


Dangerous Creatures

by AlonelyDreamer



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Legacies, The Originals - Freeform, Vampire Diaries - Freeform, the vampire diaries - Freeform, tvd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 03:53:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 57,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16674028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlonelyDreamer/pseuds/AlonelyDreamer
Summary: Mackenzie Alemaund is an unlucky 18 year old teenager whose life changes drastically after she gets kidnapped by two vampires and learns, in the same day, that she is not human. (OC portrayed by Lily Collins)





	1. Chapter 1

Mackenzie Alemaund was an eighteen-year-old senior high school student living in Mystic Falls alone with her step-father. She was a quiet girl who didn’t bother anyone. She was top of her class, always had been, always will be. There wasn’t anything special about Mackenzie Alemaund. She liked to read and listen to music, nothing extraordinary there, but she had a certain talent when it came to the arts. She could draw and paint magnificent pieces that somehow always ended up in the trash. There used to be a time, a long time ago, when her drawings were pinned to the fridge or the walls of the house, back when her mother was still alive. Back when she was happy. Back when she was just a kid.

Now, Mackenzie was afraid to be inside her own house. Afraid to speak. Afraid to breathe.

Mackenzie had no friends, no enemies. She knew people, and people knew of her. But nobody really cared. Not that she minded. She didn’t find her situation particularly unfair, though it was, she just didn’t think about her situation at all. Every day was a struggle. Every day was about getting hurt as less as possible. She didn’t have time to think about how it should be, she could only think about what it would be if she made just one little mistake.

Strategically, she thought going to the masquerade ball at the Lockwood mansion would be the best way to not get hurt at all that day. She would come home late, when he should be asleep.

Yes, it was definitely the best plan.

It was dark away from the mansion, where Mackenzie could still hear the music and the laughs of the people partying in masks. She was holding the stick of hers in her right hand, the large white feather brushing against the skin of her cleavage. She had made it herself, though it was so well-done that nobody actually believed her when they asked where she got it. It was white and purple, somehow the color was barely noticeable, and it matched the purple ball gown she had bought with her mother when she was sixteen for her first prom. It was a sleeveless elegant and modern dress that fit her perfectly, it was long enough that nobody could notice the ballerina flats she was wearing but not too long that she would stumble on it and make a fool of herself.

As she reached her car she noticed Elena Gilbert walking her way. She was wearing jeans and a pink shirt and Mackenzie frowned as she remembered she had just seen her half an hour ago in a black dress with a black mask on her face and a very red lipstick.  
She was on the phone. Mackenzie couldn’t hear what she was saying but she was pretty sure she heard the names ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Bonnie’. After she hung up, Elena looked up and saw Mackenzie standing just next to her car. They gave each other a polite yet friendly smile. Mackenzie noticed Elena seemed tired as the Gilbert girl awkwardly waved at her.

That’s when she first saw him. The man in the mask. She didn’t recognize him, she didn’t remember him from the party. She was sure it wasn’t Stefan, Elena’s boyfriend. Or was he her ex-boyfriend? Mackenzie didn’t know. Mackenzie didn’t care.

Elena turned around, curious about what Mackenzie was staring at. She gasped as she saw the complete stranger, all dressed in black, walk rapidly towards her. She was about to scream when the man grabbed her by the waist as he covered her mouth and nose with a white cloth that smelled funny.

“Elena!”

Mackenzie managed to shout right before the same thing happened to her. She tried to fight the sudden dizziness that took over her. It happened fast. The mask reached the ground as her eyes closed and she passed out in the stranger’s arms.

***

It was hot in the black car. The driver and his friend on the passenger seat hadn’t moved a muscle since they had parked in the empty field over eight hours ago. Elena and Mackenzie were still unconscious in the back when a black SUV with tainted windows joined them and stopped next to the car.

The driver, who was still wearing the same black suit from the night before, got out and walked over to the SUV. The dark window slightly opened to let appear a young man wearing a black cap and sunglasses.

“Where is she?”

“In the trunk.”

“Did you do as I said?”

A few seconds of silence passed and the driver was getting impatient.

“Well?”

“There was a complication,” he nervously admitted.

“What complication?”

“She wasn’t alone. There was another girl there. We had to take her with us. No witnesses.”

The driver looked away, aggravated, and paused, contemplating his options. Killing the unwelcomed victim would be a rookie mistake, and he couldn’t afford it. If he left one single clue, one as big as a dead teenage girl, it could be his death sentence.

“Put them in the back,” he eventually ordered.

He watched in the mirror as the two men did as he asked.

“Thank you for your help.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Yes. Remember what I told you to do once you were done?” he asked, and the man in the suit nodded. “You’re done.”

The man nodded again, then backed away and turned to face his accomplice. He then took out his gun and shot him in the chest before he proceeded to shoot himself in the head.  
The SUV drove away, leaving the bodies on the ground.

***

When Elena woke up she found herself in an unknown room with an unknown man. He was wearing jeans and a black hoodie. The room was a mess. It was dirty and dusty and old, and it smelled like it. She could feel she was lying down on what appeared to be a couch. A very ugly and old couch. Her vision was blurred for a few seconds but then she realized she was facing Mackenzie who was still unconscious. She looked her up and down and was a little relieved to see no injuries on her. That’s when she felt it. The pain in her arm.

She looked up at the man whom she didn’t recognize, and though she was afraid she managed to find the courage to speak up.

“What do you want?”

But he didn’t answer. He put his finger on his lips, gesturing her to stay quiet.

“Please, I’m hurt,” she tried again.

“I know,” he said, staring at her bleeding wound. She could see what he was thinking. She gasped as he moved closer to her. “Just a taste,” he told her, or maybe himself.

“No!” Elena shouted as she tried to back away from him.

“Trevor!” a firm female voice stopped him, “control yourself,” she continued, in the tone of a mother scolding her child. She had the same British accent as her friend. She had brown hair and brown eyes, she was wearing jeans, a blue shirt and a brown jacket. She was staring at Elena like she had trouble believing what she was seeing.

Trevor recomposed himself and backed off.

“Rose,” he sighed. “Buzz kill…”

Elena watched as the vampire walked away.

“What’s that smell?” Rose asked.

“It’s sleeping beauty over there,” Trevor answered from the top of the stairs.

“Why does she smell so good?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “But I’d love to find out if her blood is as good as it smells. Can I eat her?”

“No!” both Elena and Rose said.

Trevor, unhappy with the answer, rolled his eyes and exited the room.

“Who is she anyway?” she asked her friend, loud enough for him to hear, even though he would have heard her anyway.

“Complications!”

Rose made an annoyed face, the situation already wasn’t easy, they didn’t need complications. Her eyes fell back on Elena and the human could see astonishment on her face.

“My God, you look just like her.”

“But I’m not,” Elena shook her head, thinking they wanted Katherine, “whatever you…”

“Be quiet.”

“But I’m not Katherine,” she repeated as she stood up. “My name is Elena Gilbert. You don’t have to do this.”

“I know who you are. I said, be quiet.”

Elena frowned.

“What do you want?”

The vampire was annoyed by her incessant questions and slapped Elena so hard the human fell back on the couch, unconscious.

“I want you to be quiet,” she said, before she left the room, leaving the two unconscious teenagers alone on the couch.

Mackenzie woke up not long after. She blinked several times, confused, even in her state of slumber, to where she was. She slowly looked around and didn’t recognize the room she was in. Suddenly, fear ceased her as she remembered the last thing she saw was a man grabbing Elena and the last thing she felt was a humid cloth on her mouth. She sat bolt upright and brought her hands to her face as if she could still feel it. She saw Elena lying in front of her. She couldn’t not see the stain of blood on her arm. She instantly tried to wake her up.

“Elena!” she whispered as loudly as she could, she didn’t want to alert the people who had brought them there. Wherever “there” was.

She heard her moan, as if she was in pain, and saw her slowly open her eyes.

“Elena, are you okay?” she asked, panic clear in her voice.

“Mackenzie,” she whispered. “You’re awake.”

Elena sat up to face her and winced when she used her injured arm.

“Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing.”

“What are we doing here? Where are we?” Mackenzie asked, she looked like a scared little girl.

“I don’t know where we are,” Elena answered the easiest question.

Where they were didn’t matter. What mattered was who was there with them, holding them in that shady dusty abandoned house for an unknown reason. There was no way Mackenzie would survive this day without seeing things she couldn’t unsee, and Elena knew she was going to panic and that wouldn’t end well, for anybody.

Elena took Mackenzie’s hand as she got up. She gestured her to be quiet, pointed a finger at the door up the stairs and then pointed at her ear. Mackenzie understood what she meant. Two people were talking, a man and a woman, it wasn’t hard listening to them as their conversation resonated in the entire house. They listened to them argue as they walked up the stairs as slowly and quietly as possible.

“So, you called him?” Trevor asked, he sounded nervous.

“No, I called one of his contacts. You know how this works.”

“Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah?”

“They say he got it.”

“Wonderful. And what?”

“So, that’s it, Trevor. He either got it or he didn’t. We just have to wait.”

“Look, i-it’s not too late,” Trevor stuttered, “we can leave her. We don’t have to go through with this.”

“I’m sick of running.”

“Yeah? Well, running keeps up from dying.”

“Elijah’s old-school, if he accepts our deal, we’re free.”

Elena looked back at Mackenzie. Even though she was a year older, Mackenzie was shorter than her, and Elena felt the need to protect her from everything she didn’t know. She squeezed her hand and Mackenzie nodded. They had to be quiet. But the floor creaked under Elena’s footsteps and alerted the two vampires.

“You!” Rose said, before she quickly and angrily made her way to the girls.

Elena stepped back and pushed Mackenzie behind her to shield her from the vampire.

“There’s nothing around here for miles. If you think you’re getting out, you’re wrong. Understand?”

Elena didn’t respond. She didn’t even nod. Mackenzie was surprised as the woman clearly expected an answer. If it had been her she would have been nodding like a crazy person. If she had been alone she would have stayed on that couch, waiting, too terrified to move.

Rose, who had grown tired of Elena and her boldness, stepped out of the room. Mackenzie let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Come on.”

Elena started to follow them but Mackenzie, whose hand she was still holding, stopped her.

“What are you doing?” she asked, terrified.

“Let’s find out why we’re here.”

“But…”

Elena didn’t give her time to reply as she dragged her in the next room where they found Rose. The room was as bad as the one they woke up in. There were books everywhere. On the floor, on the sofas, on the table… The room was quite and dark. Almost all the windows had been covered up with cardboards. There were a few lamps across the room to make up for the lack of daylight.

As they joined Rose in the dirty room, Mackenzie was starting to wonder if Elena was trying to get them killed, if she knew more than she said, or if she was just crazy.

“Why am I here?” she asked, and if she was afraid, Mackenzie couldn’t tell.

“You keep asking me questions like I’m gonna answer them,” Rose said.

“Why won’t you?” Elena asked next, a little too cocky for Mackenzie’s taste.

“That’s another one.”

Mackenzie watched Rose take a cardboard and put it against a window, blocking the sunlight from entering the room. She found it curious that she would walk around the sunlight instead of just through it, like any sane person would.

“You got me, okay? It’s not like I can go anywhere.”

Mackenzie noticed that Elena only talked about herself, as if they only wanted her. Or as if she had completely forgotten about the girl whose hand was still in hers. Mackenzie was getting more and more convinced that Elena was crazy, or that she had a terrible survival instinct.

“The least you can do is tell me what you want with me.”

Mackenzie knew that the woman didn’t need to do anything. She wondered what made Elena think that she could boss her around and force her to answer her questions. The safest way to play it, the only way that would ensure they wouldn’t get too much hurt, was to go back to the couch and stay quiet. But it seemed that Elena disagreed.

“I personally want nothing. I’m just a delivery service.”

“To who? Elijah?”

Rose chuckled. “Two points for the eavesdropper,” she said, she sounded amused.

Each step Elena took brought them closer to the short-haired stranger and Mackenzie couldn’t have been squeezing Elena’s hand any harder.

“Who is he? Is he a vampire?”

Mackenzie instantly looked up at Elena, though she was facing her back. She was certain she had misheard.

“He’s one of _the_ vampires. The Originals.”

“What do you mean “the Originals”?” Elena mumbled.

“What do you mean “vampires”,” Mackenzie whispered to Elena.

Different scenarios were playing in her mind. Either Elena knew something she didn’t and knew that the two people who had taken them thought vampires were real and she was just pretending, or Elena was as mad as them and they were both going to die.

“Doesn’t your friend know?” Rose asked with an amused smirk.

“She’s not my friend,” Elena said.

She didn’t mean it in a bad way. It was just the truth. Elena and Mackenzie weren’t friends. They knew of each other’s existence because Elena was popular and everybody knew her, especially after she lost her parents, and because Mackenzie’s mother had died two years before and the entire town had heard of it.

“She has nothing to do with this, why did you take her?”

“Be happy she’s here,” Rose answered, “we could’ve just killed her instead.”

Mackenzie squeezed Elena’s hand as she moved closer to her.

“Who are the Originals?”

“Again with the questions,” Rose sighed. “Haven’t the Salvatores been teaching you vampire history?”

Mackenzie’s eyes grew big as she realized that she was talking about Stefan and his brother.

“So, you know Stefan and Damon?” Elena asked.

“I know _of_ them. A hundred years back, a friend of mine tried to set me up with Stefan. She said he was one of the good ones. More of a sucker for the bad boys, though, but I digress.”

_A hundred years back._ The words echoed loudly in Mackenzie’s mind, and a strong headache started to make her feel dizzy. She was among crazy people, alone, somewhere she didn’t know, and somehow, she still felt safer than she did inside her own house. Maybe it was because of Elena, who seemed pretty courageous at that moment, or maybe it was despite of her, who wasn’t making much sense…

“Who are the Originals?” Elena asked again.

Rose rolled her eyes and slowly turned around.

“Trevor and I have been running for 500 years. We’re tired. We want it over. We’re using you to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess.”

“But why me?”

“Because you’re a Petrova doppelgänger.”

_Doppelgänger?_ An image from last night popped into Mackenzie’s mind when she heard the word. Was it possible that Elena from last night, with the dark dress and the dark mask, wasn’t actually Elena? No, it couldn’t be possible, because that would mean that Elena wasn’t crazy, nor were the people that were holding them in that old house, and that vampires existed. And vampires didn’t exist. Vampires weren’t real.

“You’re the key to breaking the curse,” Rose said.

“Curse? The sun and the moon curse?”

Did Elena know what that woman was talking about? Was Mackenzie the only person in the dark? Or the only _sane_ person?

“You do know your history,” Rose nodded.

“What do you mean I’m the key? The moonstone is what breaks the curse.”

“No. The moonstone is what binds the curse. Sacrifice is what breaks it.”

“Sacrifice?” Elena breathed out, suddenly scared.

_Finally, a rational reaction._

“The blood of the doppelgänger. You’re the doppelgänger. Which means, in order to break the curse, you’re the one that has to die,” Rose explained.

That finally shut Elena up. But it’s also what made Mackenzie speak up.

“You people are crazy,” she breathed out as she let go of Elena’s hand and started to walk towards the door.

She figured she could at least try to make a run for it. After all, they weren’t really vampires. They were just delusional people talking about curses and sacrifices. She just had to run fast, like she had never run before.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Rose asked. She didn’t sound angry, just a little annoy.

Mackenzie didn’t reply, she just started to walk a little faster. The vampire sighed and, a second later, was standing right in front of the human.

“Holy…” Mackenzie gasped.

Her heart skipped a beat, and her face turned white as if she had just seen a ghost.

“You don’t want to get out there,” she said, “if Elijah’s coming you might run into him outside and that won’t end well for you,” Rose said, and Mackenzie was surprised that she actually cared.

She stepped back, afraid of how close she was from the “vampire”. She jumped, frightened, when someone took her hand. It was Elena.

“It’s gonna be ok,” she said. “It’s me they want. You’ll be fine. I promise.”

Rose chuckled. “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Elena gave her a reproving look that the vampire shrugged away.

“Vampires don’t exist,” Mackenzie whispered.

“Yes. Yes, they do. I know it’s a shock, and I’ll explain everything later, okay, just, calm down, please.”

But Mackenzie didn’t want her to explain. She wanted to get the hell out of there. Away from them, all three of them.

“Let me go!”

“Mack…”

Rose didn’t give Elena a chance to calm Mackenzie down. She had no patience and thought she could stop the girl from causing any more problems. She knew an easy way to keep someone quiet. She put her hand on Mackenzie’s left shoulder and pushed her against the wall. The hard impact made the entire house shake. Mackenzie cried, both out of fear and pain. The vampire locked her eyes in hers and said: “Calm down. It’s gonna be fine.”

“Let go of me!” Mackenzie begged.

The vampire frowned. She looked confused. She looked at Elena who looked as confused as her.

“I said, calm down,” she tried again.

But Mackenzie wasn’t calming down. In fact, she was panicking even more.

“Why can’t she be compelled?” the vampire asked, in an angry tone.

“I have no idea,” Elena shook her head, asking herself the same question.

“What are you talking about?” Mackenzie cried.

“What are you?” Rose growled, squeezing the girl’s shoulders harder. But Mackenzie had no answer to give her.

Rose slowly leaned forward. Mackenzie was trembling and whimpering against the wall. She gasped when she felt the vampire’s nose on her neck. She heard Rose sniff several times.

“I never met a human who smelled like you,” she said. “Tell me. What are you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she wailed.

“Let her go. She doesn’t know anything!” Elena told Rose.

Rose looked at the doppelgänger, contemplating the request. Eventually, she grew tired of hearing the girl’s cries and let go of her. Elena immediately rushed to Mackenzie.

“It’s gonna be okay.”

But no matter how many times Elena said it, Mackenzie didn’t believe her. The doppelgänger helped her up and tried to give her a reassuring smile. Mackenzie wasn’t having it. Elena took her hand again and followed Rose back in the room. Mackenzie reluctantly went with her. She would rather stay with the “not-so-crazy Elena” than alone in the hallway where Trevor could walk by at any moment.

Mackenzie was trying to understand the situation. Who would believe vampires were real? But how could she not believe it now? Now that she saw how fast and how strong Rose was. How every question Elena asked and every answer Rose gave made sense somehow. In a world different than hers. A world she had no idea she lived in.

Elena wasn’t giving up, she still had plenty of questions. And she wasn’t afraid of Rose, or maybe she was more afraid not to have answers.

“Tell me more.”

“Captivity’s made her pushy, eh?”

Mackenzie jumped when she heard Trevor’s voice behind her. She was lost deep in her thoughts and she hadn’t heard him join them in the dark room. She stepped forward, squeezing Elena’s hand harder, the way she did before, and placing her free hand on her arm, as if the only safe place in that house at the moment was behind Elena’s back.

“What do you wanna know, doppelicious?” he asked, taking a piece of cardboard and putting it against another window.

“Who are you running from?”

“The Originals.”

“Yeah. She said that. What does that mean?” Elena didn’t sound cocky anymore, she sounded impatient, and Mackenzie just listened, trying to calm herself down but it had the opposite effect. Listening to them and their horror stories was starting to make her physically sick.

“The first family. The Old World. Rose and I pissed them off.”

Rose cleared her throat in disagreement.

“Correction, I pissed them off. Rose had my back. And for over half a millennium, they’ve wanted us dead.”

“What did you do?”

“He made the same mistake countless others did. He trusted Katerina Petrova.”

“Katherine…” Elena let out in a whisper.

“The one and only. The first Petrova doppelgänger.”

“I helped her escape her fate. And I’ve… sorry, _we_ ’ve been marked ever since.”

“Which is why we’re not gonna make the same mistake again,” Rose said before she stepped out of the room and Trevor followed her, leaving the girls alone with their thoughts.

Elena sighed. She turned around towards Mackenzie who didn’t look well. She didn’t look well at all.

“Come one,” she said. “I’ll explain everything.”

Mackenzie wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. The more she learnt, the sicker she felt. Her headache became more painful every time she asked herself a new question and every time she had an answer. She just wanted to go home. For once.

Elena led her out of the room and they walked quietly in the dirty hallways of the old house. Mackenzie was afraid to speak, she dreaded Elena’s next words.

As they reached the stairs and walked back to the room where they had woken up, the silence became too unbearable for Mackenzie and she finally asked her first question.

“So… Stefan is a… vampire?”

“Yes,” Elena nodded. “And his brother, Damon, too. So is Caroline.”

“Caroline? Forbes?”

It couldn’t be possible. She had first met the blonde when she was eight. Caroline was a year younger than her, they had been in the same schools, had played the same games, had met the same people. Even though they hadn’t spoken more than two words to each other, Mackenzie knew that Caroline was human. Just like she was.

“Yes. Katherine turned her.”

“Katherine is…”

“My… ancestor,” Elena explained. “She looks exactly like me. She’s a vampire. She’s… a psycho.”

“Your doppelgänger?”

“Yeah… it’s… a long story.”

“Was it her in the black dress at the party last night?”

“Yes,” Elena nodded. “Stefan and Damon had a plan to… stop her.”

“So… she’s dead?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Elena sighed.

“But, they stopped her?”

“Yeah. They did it to protect me. And the rest of the world,” she scoffed.

“… I thought… you and Stefan… I thought you two dated?”

“We did,” she nodded.

“Did you break up when you found out he was a vampire?”

“I did… but then we got back together.”

“But… don’t vampires… drink blood?”

“They do. Stefan doesn’t drink human blood.”

Mackenzie was surprised. “Can he do that?” Maybe not all vampires were kidnapping monsters. Maybe not all vampires wanted to sacrifice you to break a curse.

Elena chuckled. “Yeah, he can.”

They walked through the dusty room, Mackenzie’s long purple dress was sweeping off the place. When they reached the couch, Elena noticed a piece of paper that wasn’t there before. She took it and opened it: **Stefan and Damon are coming for you. -B.**

“What’s that?” Mackenzie asked.

“It’s a message from Bonnie. I told you we were gonna be fine.”

“Bonnie? H-how?”

Elena bit her lower lip and looked down.

“Oh God… what now?”

“Bonnie’s a witch.”

Mackenzie stared at Elena, she didn’t know what to do with the information. She didn’t know what to think at all. She only knew that she was terrified and that she was probably gonna die soon.

“Of course she is,” she breathed out as she sat on the couch.

“It’ll be easier with time,” Elena promised. “You’ll get used to the idea.”

Mackenzie knew she was right. It would never be easy, but just like the death of her mother, she would get used to the idea. She would learn to live with it. She just didn’t want to.

“What does… What was Rose trying to do, earlier?”

“You mean compel you?” Elena asked, and Mackenzie nodded. “Vampires can compel people. Make them think or do things against their will.” She brought a hand to her necklace. “Vervain prevents that.”

“Why can’t I be compelled?”

“I don’t know,” Elena frowned. “Supernatural creatures usually can’t be compelled.”

“But… I’m human.”

“I don’t know,” Elena repeated as she shrugged. “You’re the best person to know what you are.”

“I’m human,” Mackenzie said, sure of herself.

“Maybe you ate something with vervain in it,” Elena shrugged.

“That’s probably it…”

Rose entered the room with a bag and started to collect her things she had scattered around the room. Nobody said anything. Elena was waiting for Stefan and Damon to come rescue them. Mackenzie had plenty of things to think about, she had to reimagine the world she lived in, and Rose had nothing to say, she looked nervous.

After an hour, Trevor rushed into the room, completely panicked.

“He’s here! This was a mistake.”

Mackenzie’s heart skipped a beat. _He_ meaning Elijah. _He_ meaning her probable, violent and scary murderer.

“No, I told you I would take you out of this mess. You have to trust me.”

“No. He wants me dead, Rose!”

“He wants her more.”

“I can’t do this,” he said, pacing in the room like a mad man, “you give her to him. He’ll have mercy on you. But I need to get out of here!”

“Hey,” Rose said as she took his hands to try and calm him down, “what are we?”

Trevor took a deep breath. “We’re family. Forever.”

Suddenly, a noise resonated in the room. Someone was knocking on the front door. At the realization that a bigger, stronger, badder vampire was about to make his entrance, Mackenzie sat up and moved closer to Elena.

“You’re scared,” the doppelgänger said, as she saw the vampires’ faces.

That wasn’t reassuring at all.

“Stay here with them. And don’t make a sound,” Rose told Trevor before she walked up the stairs and disappeared in the other room.

Elena got up, too nervous to stay seated. Mackenzie was breathing heavily. She had never been more scared in her life, and she had had many reasons to be. But she knew that she could die a horrible death in the next hour and at that moment she wished she weren’t human, she wished she had some kind of power that would teleport her and Elena back to Mystic Falls.

The seconds felt like hours. They were barely breathing, waiting for Rose to come back. About ten minutes after she had left, Rose stepped back inside the room followed by a man in a suit. Elena and Mackenzie both instantly looked up as he appeared. He was looking right at the doppelgänger, like he couldn’t believe was he was seeing. Elena stepped protectively in front of Mackenzie. It’s her he wanted, after all.

One second, he was standing on top of the stairs, and the other he was right in front of Elena, just inches from her. Both girls gasped at the sudden apparition. Now, Elena was scared the same way Mackenzie had been all day.

He was looking at her as if she had killed his entire family, his dogs and their puppies. Elena’s body was quivering and she could barely breathe. She watched him warily as he moved closer to her and leaned forward to breathe her in.

But even though he was trying to focus on the doppelgänger, he couldn’t help but notice a stronger, more appealing, different, and new smell. He tilted his head on the side and saw the terrified girl on the couch behind Elena. She couldn’t have looked any more frightened. She was shaking with fear, and he could hear her heart pounding hard in her chest. He caught her wet brown eyes in his and fear made it impossible for her to look away.

“What do we have here?” he smirked.

“She was with the doppelgänger when we took her,” Rose explained. “We had to bring her with us.”

“Why does she smell so good?” he asked Rose, but he was still looking at Mackenzie.

In his long life, he had never met someone who smelled like her.

“We don’t know. She’s probably not human.”

“Why do you say that?”

“She can’t be compelled.”

“Really?” he said, he sounded and looked a bit surprised.

“She thinks she’s human,” Rose added. “She didn’t know vampires existed before today.”

“Interesting.”

He focused a little while longer on the unlucky girl. Mackenzie felt like she was about to pass out. She was more scared of him than she had been of Rose and Trevor. Though, at that moment, he didn’t look like he wanted to hurt her. He looked like he had a few questions for her. She hoped he wouldn’t ask them because she had no answer to give him, and that wasn’t a situation she imagined would end well.

“Hello there,” he said smugly with a mischievous grin.

Surprised, Mackenzie blinked several times. She pressed herself against the couch, wishing she could disappear inside it.

Elijah looked at her, watched her tremble with fear, listened to her fast heartbeat, breathed in her delicious scent, and explored her face with his eyes. She was a beautiful girl, he had no doubt, even in her dirty purple dress, with her messy brown hair, the tears running down her cheeks and the mascara stains under her eyes. To Mackenzie, it looked like he was debating whether or not he was going to eat her now or keep her for later.

After what seemed like hours spent in a terrifying and somewhat uncomfortable silence, Elijah finally focused back on the matter at hand and reluctantly brought his attention back to Elena. She smelled like a human, her heart beat like a human’s; she was a human.

Once he was certain that he had never met her before, that she wasn’t _Katerina_ , a content smile appeared on his face, as if he was proud, or merely pleased.

“Human,” he said, surprise clear in his voice.

He turned around towards Rose and nodded.

“You didn’t lie.”

“She’s yours.”

“Well,” he smiled, as he turned back towards Elena. “We have a long journey ahead of us. We should be going.”

Mackenzie worriedly looked up at Elena. There was no sign of Stefan and Damon, nobody there to help them.

“Please, don’t let him take me,” Elena begged Rose.

The vampire looked away, as if she were ashamed of herself. She wouldn’t be doing it if she had another choice.

“One last piece of business, and we’re done,” Elijah said, completely ignoring Elena’s pleas.

He stepped away from her and turned around towards Trevor who looked terrified. Elijah was walking around him, listening to his apologies.

“I’ve waited so long for this day, Elijah. I’m truly very sorry.”

“Oh, no, your apology is not necessary,” Elijah told him.

Mackenzie watched carefully as the Original vampire circled around Trevor like a shark around its prey. He didn’t look angry, he was smiling, as if he was amused.

“Yes. Yes, it is,” Trevor insisted. “You trusted me with Katerina and I failed you.”

“Well, yes, you are the guilty one,” Elijah nodded as he walked passed him. “And Rose aided you because she was loyal to you,” he said, as he looked up at her. “That, I honor.”

He stopped in front of Trevor, he was still smiling, as if the situation was somehow funny.

“Where was your loyalty?”

“I beg your forgiveness,” Trevor told Elijah, as he looked up at him with scared eyes.

There was a moment of silence, during which the vampires and the girls waited for the Original’s answer with anticipation.

“So granted.”

Mackenzie watched as Trevor smiled, relieved, right before Elijah slapped him so hard that he cut his head off. It happened extremely fast. Elijah moved, then, there was a gross “splash” like in the movies, and Trevor’s headless body fell on the ground.

Mackenzie gasped with horror as Trevor’s body hit the dirty floor and blood spilled out of the vampire’s neck. She couldn’t look away as a pool of blood grew larger by the second where Trevor’s head should have been. She felt like she was going to throw up or pass out, or both. She couldn’t breathe. Her ears were ringing, and she could barely hear Rose moan and cry.

“You…” the vampire groaned with anger. She was shocked and furious and all she wanted to do at that moment was kill the Original vampire, but she knew very well that wasn’t possible.

“Don’t, Rose,” Elijah said calmly, “now that you are free.”

More tears fell down Mackenzie’s cheeks, though she was crying out of fear unlike Rose who felt betrayed, lost and stupid for trusting an Original vampire.

Elijah fixed his sleeves and made sure there wasn’t a drop of blood on his suit before he held his hand to Elena and instructed her to follow him.

“Come.”

“No, what about the moonstone?” she said in a panic, hoping it would win some time for Stefan and Damon to come and rescue the day. She saw Elijah looked interested.

“What do you know about the moonstone?” he asked.

“I know that you need it. And I know where it is.”

“Yes?” he nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“I can help you get it.”

“Tell me where it is,” he simply said.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Elena told him.

Elijah was both surprised and amused by the doppelgänger’s behavior. He didn’t know if she was being brave, or just plain stupid.

“Are you negotiating with me?” he asked Elena before he turned around towards Rose.

“It’s the first I’ve heard of it,” she told him.

Elijah turned back towards Elena, looking for her eyes, but noticed she couldn’t be compelled. His eyes fell on her necklace and he raised an eyebrow.

“What is this vervain doing around your neck?” he said, angrily, before he took it and threw it across the room. “Tell me where the moonstone is,” he compelled her.

“In the tomb, underneath the church ruins,” she complied.

“What is it doing there?”

“It’s with Katherine.”

“Interesting.”

Mackenzie was still staring at Trevor lying headless in a pool of his own blood. She wasn’t hearing anything, just a loud silence. Her mind was empty. She wasn’t thinking about anything, she wasn’t feeling anything. She was just staring, not even seeing. She didn’t hear the sound of broken glass coming from the other side of the house which distracted Elijah who let go of Elena.

“What is that?” he asked Rose.

“I don’t know.”

“Who else is in this house?”

“I don’t know.”

Elijah grabbed Elena by her left arm and gestured Mackenzie to get up. She didn’t even see him. He saw her pale face and knew she was going to be sick. He followed her gaze and sighed when his eyes landed on Trevor. He guessed he could just leave her there. She wasn’t any threat to him and he could come back for her after he got rid of whoever had broken into the house. After all, if she stayed there, she wouldn’t see him kill any more people, and that would probably be for the best.

Screams and other loud noises could be heard inside the house. It lasted about five minutes, not that Mackenzie could have known that. She wasn’t paying attention. Maybe she fell asleep. Maybe her brain shut down. Her eyes were still on Trevor. Actually, they were on the blood. She was just seeing the blood.

At some point she felt a hand on her left arm and started to hear a buzzing noise. The noise became clearer by the seconds. It was a woman’s voice. She had a British accent. She was speaking loudly but she had to repeat herself several times to get an answer.

“Little girl! Wake up! Your friends are leaving!”

When Mackenzie looked up, there was no one there. She took a deep breath and tears fell down her cheeks when she looked up and became aware of her surroundings again. She was still in that room. She hated that room.

Elena appeared at the top of the stairs with Stefan. Mackenzie tried to stand up but, as soon as she was on her feet, the room started to spin and she could feel herself fall over. She expected to hit the floor, but instead she felt someone sweep her off her feet and the last thing she saw before everything went dark was Elena’s worried face.

When Mackenzie woke up, for the second time that day, she was in her bedroom. It was a clean room, with white walls and a wooden floor. She was lying on her bed in her dirty purple dress. She was panicked and breathing heavily. She sat up and quickly looked around the room to make sure she was alone. It was dark, but the lights from the streets were enough to allow her to spot a piece of paper on her night table. She took it with a shaky hand.

**Come to us if you have any questions. Elijah is dead. I am so sorry. -E**

She stared at the note like it was contaminated with the plague. On one hand, she was relieved that Elijah was dead, on the other hand, it confirmed that day had really happened and it wasn’t just a dream.

A spark appeared in the middle of the room, and for an instant Mackenzie thought she was hallucinating. That was until the note caught fire on its own. She gasped as she let go of the paper which fell back on her bed sheet. She backed away, pressing her back against the wall, and watched it consume itself. It wasn’t a normal fire. It didn’t spread to the sheet, and it didn’t even burn her. It felt warm, but it didn’t feel threatening. The note was gone and only smoke remained. There weren’t even any ashes.

The smell of burned paper invaded the room as Mackenzie realized her stepfather wasn’t the scariest man in the world anymore. Now, she had to fear vampires, witches, and maybe even herself.


	2. A Truly Beautiful Creature

The weak light of dawn filtered through the clear blue curtains and slightly reflected on the silk purple dress lying on the wooden floor.  
Mackenzie was a mess. She was lying on her bed, in a large and used grey shirt that was so old she couldn’t even remember where it came from. She was staring at the white wall with half-opened eyes. She was exhausted. She didn’t sleep though. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw it happened all over again. Trevor’s head flying away from his body. That was something hard to forget; something to have nightmares about for a very long time.

Her phone rang, suddenly, breaking the deep silence that had settled in the room a few hours before. She didn’t move. She heard it, but she didn’t move. _What did it mean?_ It meant she had to get up. To take a shower, to get ready, to cook breakfast – not only for her but for Robert, her stepfather – and to go to school. School with Elena Gilbert and Bonnie Bennett, doppelgänger and witch. School with Stefan Salvatore and Caroline Forbes, vampires.

It was so ridiculous to even think about it. Caroline Forbes, the sheriff’s daughter, was a vampire. Caroline Forbes, the girl Mackenzie had first met when she was eight. Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls. Caroline Forbes, the girl who tried too hard. Caroline Forbes, living dead and blood thirsty vampire.

“Turn off your fucking alarm!”

For the first time in almost six hours, Mackenzie moved. She jumped, startled by Robert, and quickly did as he said.

“Sorry!”

He mumbled something she couldn’t hear. Vampires were scary, there was no doubt, but right now, she had bigger problems. She had to deal with her grumpy stepfather who would be in the kitchen in which no breakfast had been made. If Robert’s hands weren’t strong enough to cut somebody’s head off, they still could leave some nasty bruises.

She jumped out of bed and found a pair of old black leggings with holes in it – and not because it was fashionable – and quickly put it on before she rushed out of her bedroom. She was relieved when she heard the water running in Robert’s bathroom. He was taking a shower, and that left her about ten minutes to make the pancakes, fifteen if he was having a bad hair day.

Robert was a lawyer – and not a very good one if you asked her. He had been working for the same law firm for over a decade. He didn’t want to leave his job and that was the reason why her mother and Mackenzie had moved to Mystic Falls. He was a nice man who seemed to genuinely care about Mackenzie. He was like a father to her, at least, to some extent. He had never been abusive in anyway with her or her mother. But when she died, something changed. Kind of like the stepmother in Cinderella, if Lady Tremaine were a drunk. Aella’s cancer had drained him financially, and Mackenzie guessed he was hoping that she had left him some money in her will. But everything she had, she left to her daughter. It wasn’t much, even though the sum of money wasn’t insignificant. What got Mackenzie curious, though, was the huge ancient chest in the attic. She had tried everything to open it, but nothing had worked. And she wasn’t about to ask Robert for help; she wasn’t suicidal.

But Robert had managed to get back on his feet. You were never in any _real_ financial problems when you were a lawyer. At least, you weren’t supposed to be. After a few cases that went his way – you could never lose when you always settled – his boss had promoted him and gave him a bonus. Mackenzie remembered that month well; he had been in a very good mood.

Pancakes and coffee ready, Mackenzie hurried back up in her room. She took a deep breath, relieved she had managed to avoid him so far. Her eyes found the dirty purple dress that was still on the floor and she suddenly felt sick. She looked to her left and found the black garment bag hanging from the door of her bathroom. She took a few steps to grab the gown but she stopped before she put it back in the bag.

She remembered when she found it, in an old shop, during a hot afternoon. Nobody had invited her to prom, and she had no intention of going, but her mother had insisted that they find a dress anyway. It was like she knew she wouldn’t be there for the real thing. Aella was the one who first spotted the purple dress and even though all Mackenzie wanted to do was go home, she indulged her mother and tried it on. She loved that dress. She used to love that dress, anyway. Now, she could barely look at it. It broke her heart to think that way about one of the last things that she had left of her mother. She put it back into the garment bag and hid it inside her closet behind a row of clothes.

She took her phone to check the time: **6:18 – Friday, March 26.**

She wasn’t late and she could really use a long and cold shower. She usually took her time. Unless it would make her really late for school, she never got out of her room if Robert was still in the house. She waited for him to leave for work, which gave her time to properly get ready. She didn’t particularly like makeup, but it was very useful when she had to hide bruises or a black eye. She had become pretty good at it. Everything was settled in a convenient way in the clean bathroom. The towels were on the towel holder next to the shower cabin, the hair-dryer was away from the bathtub – to avoid any unfortunate accident – her makeup was in her bedroom, in the ancient vanity she had inherited from her mother who had herself inherited it from her mother. She had learned that keeping her makeup inside the bathroom could lead to a big mess that required a long and hard time to fix – especially if everything in there was white. Besides, the light of day was always useful and better than the artificial yellow light of the bathroom.

She made sure her makeup was perfect before she quickly put on a white velvet quilted mini skirt that had a thin belt of the same color and two big pockets on the front, then found a lilac ramie sweater in her closet. She grabbed her black blazer and the strap of her white bag into which she shoved her notebook and gave a look out the window to make sure Robert’s car was gone. That’s when she saw her car in the driveway and remembered it should still be at the Lockwood’s. She wondered who had brought it back there, and how. She thought of Stefan, whom she had always found to be really nice. Of course, now it was a different story. It was a relief to have found the car in the driveway. She hadn’t thought of it but she would have had no means to get to school without it.

_Would that have been so bad?_

She quickly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. She put her bag and blazer down on the black marble counter and cleaned Robert’s mess before she sat down to finish the pancakes. She had everything she needed in front of her. The plates, the fruits, the fork, the knife and the glass. Except the glass was empty. She looked up to see the bottle of orange juice across the counter and leaned forward to get it. But as she held her hand and opened it, the bottle came to her on its own. It silently and slowly slid towards her.

Mackenzie jumped away, and almost hit her head against the shelves behind her.

“Holy sh…”

She stared at the immobile bottle like it was going to kill her. What was that? Was she going crazy? Was that real? Did she imagine it?

_What the hell is happening to me?_

Never before had this happened. She had never set anything on fire nor had she been able to move anything _with her mind_. Why was this happening now? What was different now? What had changed?

She slowly approached the bottle like it was a wild animal. She held out her hand, hoping it wouldn’t move again on its own. When she grabbed it, nothing strange happened. She opened it and poured juice in her empty glass before she put it back inside the fridge. At least, it wouldn’t move on its own there, or if it did, she wouldn’t see it. She sat back down, still unsettled by what had just happened. She hesitantly took the glass and smelled the liquid before she drank it. It was orange juice. _Of course, it was orange juice._

Maybe she did imagine it. After all, she hadn’t slept.

As she ate, her mind travelled to dark places. Robert would be mad, for sure, for her absence the day before. She could already hear him scream about how he was late for work because he had to cook his own breakfast and how he almost starved because she hadn’t been there to make him dinner. There was no escaping him this time, and she was sure that, the next day, she will have to use her makeup to cover more than just the bags under her eyes.

She put everything in the dishwasher before she put on her white heeled ankle boots and readied herself to leave. But when she placed her hand on the handle of the front door, she froze. It was the first time she was afraid of getting out of that house. It was the first time she felt safer inside than out. She didn’t want to get out, and missing school was the least of her priorities. But, as usual, she started to think about the worst-case scenarios. If she didn’t go to school, Robert would hear about it, and he wouldn’t be happy, and not because he cared about her education.

She took a deep breath, and slowly opened the door with her shaky hand, half-expecting to see Elijah standing on her porch. It was irrational, and she knew it. Elijah was dead after all. She quickly made her way to her car and was careful to lock the doors once she was inside. It gave her a fake sensation of safety, but she had no doubt if a vampire wanted to get inside, they would get inside.

She found a note on the passenger seat. She hesitated. What if that note caught on fire too?

**I found your car at the Lockwoods. See you at school. -S**

She wasn’t entirely surprised. That was a nice gesture from him. Maybe, it was his way of telling her that he was her friend, and she had nothing to fear from him.

When she arrived at school, it was still early. She sat there, in her car, watching her classmates talking and laughing, having no idea about the world they lived in. She wished she were like them. She wished she weren’t afraid of getting out of her car. Anyone there, the students, the teachers… anyone could be a vampire, or a witch, or something other than human.

It was sunny outside. It didn’t rain often in Mystic Falls. Some students were sitting on the green grass, others were rushing inside the school, the rest just talked to their friends about everything and anything. Things that didn’t really matter. Mackenzie watched them, like she did sometimes, when she didn’t want to leave her car. She never had many friends, or any for that matter. It’s not that they hadn’t tried talking to her, she did have a couple of friends back when her mother was alive. But after Robert started “acting out” she thought it would be easier to stay alone, so at least she wouldn’t have to explain the bruises, or try to make them believe that she was so clumsy she fell down the stairs every two days.

Mackenzie took a deep breath before she picked up her blazer and her bag and got out of her car. She looked around, maybe for Elena, or Rose, or Elijah, she didn’t really know. She felt paranoid but she didn’t feel stupid. She knew what was out there. She knew she was right to be careful. Every step she took made the knot in her stomach grow bigger. Every loud laugh, or scream, or sudden movement startled her.

The wind blew stronger suddenly, and her hair flew into her face. She thought she heard someone whisper her name in her right ear. It sounded like a female voice. It sounded almost familiar but it was very quiet. Mackenzie turned around but there was no one there. She looked around and there wasn’t even anyone near her. Now she started to feel stupid.

School was supposed to be a safe place, where no one could get hurt. Mackenzie never felt threatened at school. She liked learning and she was a good student. But as she walked in the hallways and listened to the laughs and chatter she couldn’t stop thinking about “what if?”. If Caroline Forbes was a vampire, what if other students were vampires as well, and Elena just didn’t know it. What if some teachers weren’t human?

She walked through the school like Alice walked through the dark forest in Wonderland. Scared, confused, and lost. There could be a monster around any corner. Literally. Caroline Forbes was talking to Bonnie Bennett at her locker. There was no sign of Elena, no sign of Stefan either. Not in that corner, anyway.

But when she arrived at her locker, she saw him there, as if he had been waiting for her.

“Mackenzie, hi,” he slightly smiled, like he was happy to see her, or he just didn’t want to scare her.

“Stefan…” she whispered, intimidated. She didn’t know what to say. She might be scared, but she was still polite. And she wasn’t brave enough to tell him to go away.

“How are you? How did you sleep?”

“… I didn’t,” she answered, avoiding eye contact, before she opened her locker.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised,” he said, giving her a sad look. “I’m very sorry you got caught into this.”

“It’s over now,” Mackenzie quickly said. There was no reason why she should still be “into this”. “I’m not gonna tell anyone about anything. You don’t have to worry.”

“I’m not worried,” Stefan replied. “That’s not why I’m here.”

She finally looked up at him, wondering what he could possibly want from her.

“I thought you might have some questions.”

“I’m not sure I wanna hear the answers.”

“Aren’t you even a little bit curious about what you are?”

Mackenzie frowned. “I’m human,” she told him. Even though she was starting to doubt even that.

“You can’t be compelled,” he reminded her. As if she could forget it.

“I must have eaten something with vervain in it,” she shrugged, but she wasn’t fooling him, or her.

“I think you would know,” he said, skeptical.

“Look, Stefan… What happened yesterday… happened,” she said, she was struggling to find the right words, she was confused and the last thing she wanted was to upset him. After all, he was a vampire, and she figured it would be a bad idea to upset a vampire. “And, whatever is happening to me… I don’t wanna know. I just want everything to go back to how it was.”

“What do you mean ‘Whatever is happening to you’?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest.

Mackenzie took a book out of her locker before she closed it. What could she tell him that would make him let it go?

“Nothing,” she lied as she looked down. “I’m gonna be late for class.”

“Listen,” he stopped her. She flinched when he put a hand on her forearm. “You’re afraid of me,” he realized.

She looked down, a little bit ashamed. She felt bad for having hurt his feelings.

“I’m sorry, I just… I just need to be alone right now,” she said, before she walked away without giving him another look.

“You should talk to Bonnie!” he told her, as he watched her leave.

No, Mackenzie had no intention of talking to Bonnie. She was planning on staying as far away as possible of any supernatural creatures, including witches.

She didn’t pay attention in class. She couldn’t focus. She couldn’t stop thinking about the mysterious fire, the orange juice or the talking wind. What if Stefan was right? What if she wasn’t human? What if she was a witch? Or something else? Something more dangerous…

Suddenly, she remembered stories her mother used to tell her when she was a child. She couldn’t remember it all, but she knew it was something about a war and witches. Now that she thought about it, it was kind of a dark story to tell a child.

 _It was a very long time ago, in the Enchanted Forest_ – that happened to be in Germany – _were witches and fairies had always lived in constant rivalry. The witches were jealous of the fairies because they had so much power but were not bound by nature to use them for the common good. Fairies were tricksters. And mean pranksters. They lived carelessly and never used their powers to attack or defend themselves. That was until the witches started the war. They forced the fairies into hiding. They helped werewolves in their search of fairy colonies – a fairy’s scent attracted the werewolves more than anything – fairies had to start to defend themselves and eventually developed dangerous skills. But in the end, it was too late, and fairies disappeared from the earth. And the witches won the war._

Mackenzie didn’t know which part was the most ridiculous. That the Enchanted Forest was actually in Germany or that fairies, even though they were stronger than witches, lost the war anyway. It just didn’t make sense. But that was another question to add to her list: did – or do – fairies and werewolves exist? She didn’t know why she bothered to make a list anyway.

Mackenzie didn’t see Elena at all that day, not that it bothered her. Stefan didn’t try to talk to her again, but she wasn’t going to push her luck and she hurried back to her car after class and drove straight back home.

She locked her front door before she settled at her desk, in her bedroom. Usually, she would do her homework, but she still couldn’t focus. She will be distracted for a while. As she sat there, immobile, staring at a blank page, she started to really think about what her life was at that moment, what it used to be, and what it will never be again. Long gone were the days when her only problem was her drunk stepfather – though he didn’t need to be drunk to be an abusive monster – long gone were the nights when she dreamt about traveling the world and leaving Mystic Falls and go as far away from Robert as humanly possible. Long gone were the days when she felt safe or loved.

Now, she was all alone, and it had never been harder on her.

She fell asleep on her desk and was woken up by the loud slamming of the front door. She jumped, startled.

_Oh, no._

It was 9PM. Robert was back from work and dinner wasn’t ready. She couldn’t believe she slept for over three hours. There was no escaping him now.

She ran a hand on the back of her neck. It was sore from the bad position she had stayed in all afternoon. She rubbed her eyes, remembered she was wearing makeup, washed it off in a hurry, before she quickly walked down the stairs to face the man her mother had fallen in love with a decade before.

What she hadn’t noticed before she left were the candles in her room, all lit up. It was weird, because they smelled too. They were the exact same candles, so the smell was strong. But still, she hadn’t noticed them. Maybe she was too tired. There were two candles on each side of the vanity, another one on her desk, and a last one on the night table at the left of her bed, next to the bathroom door. It was getting dark outside. The windows of her room were closed and the light of twilight painted the white walls with orange. The minutes passed and the light faded away, and the room fell into darkness, with only four little candles to fight it.

It was a typical Friday night for Mackenzie. And she knew exactly what was going to happen. She walked in the kitchen and found Robert leaning against the fridge, a bottle of beer in his hand. She stayed at a reasonable distance.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

“I… I…”

“I, I what? You weren’t there yesterday! No dinner, no breakfast, not even a warning! Where were you?”

Mackenzie always froze when she was being yelled at, but she had to say something, or things would get worse.

“I was with a friend,” she answered in a whisper.

“What friend?” he spat, as if he didn’t believe she could have any.

“Elena… Elena Gilbert.”

“Elena Gilbert’s not your friend,” he scoffed. “Don’t lie to me,” he growled, and as he took a step forward, she took a step back.

“My car refused to start. She saw me and insisted to drive me back home. It was late and I didn’t want to wake you up so I stayed at her house,” she said, very quickly.

“Right, and I’m supposed to believe she fixed your car, too?”

“Stefan Salvatore fixed it for me,” she lied, thinking fast on her feet. She had no idea he could actually have done it.

“Well, you have an answer for everything, don’t you?” he muttered. “You didn’t think about sending me a message?” he asked as he stepped closer to her. “I was late for work yesterday, my boss wasn’t happy with me,” he growled, pointing a finger at her.

“I’m sor…”

But she couldn’t even finish. As soon as she opened her mouth, his large hand flew to her cheek and hit her. Hit her hard.

“Shut up! Did I say you could talk?” he yelled, taking her chin between his fingers, his thumb pressing against her jaw. “Did I say you could talk?” he repeated in a low and threatening voice.

Mackenzie could barely breathe. She was crying and trying to get some air in her lungs.

“This is my house! You live under my roof! You live by my rules!”

He pushed her against the wall, making the entire house shake. She moaned and cried out in pain. He let go of her jaw and she could feel his fingers slide down her throat. He pressed as hard as he could – it wasn’t without effort – and she could feel his hot and disgusting breath on her face.

“Look at me,” he growled, and she did. “You have a phone, don’t you?”

She tried to nod but she couldn’t, so she tried to talk instead.

“Yes,” she choked.

“Then, call next time,” he said before he let her go.

She took a deep breath and brought a hand to her throat as soon as she reached the ground. She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand.

“Get out of my face. I’ll cook my own damn dinner.”

Mackenzie staggered back inside her bedroom, crying in silence as to not irritate him any more. She let herself fall on her bed and used her pillow to muffle her cries. It even hurt to do that now. After an hour, her pillow was completely soaked. She sat up and threw it away. It landed on the floor, in front of her mirror, in which she saw eight mysterious lights in her room. She looked around, but only saw four candles. She looked back at the mirror and everything looked normal. Maybe her vision was blurry from all the crying. She took a deep breath and tried to relax, but she hadn’t been relaxed in a very long time.

It was a typical Friday night for Mackenzie. Not that the weekend went any differently.

Though, Mackenzie couldn’t honestly say that nothing had changed. On Saturday, when she went grocery shopping, the wind had had a few things to say. Like her name, or something else she couldn’t understand. It was always the same female voice that Mackenzie thought she knew but couldn’t recognize. That night, dinner hadn’t been good enough to Robert’s taste and she went to bed with a black eye. On Sunday, she let the jar of sugar fall out of her hand after it flew to her – once again – while she was cooking breakfast, delaying the pancakes and making her stepfather angry. On that night, Robert – who went golfing with his colleagues and lost – came home just to punch her in the jaw, hurting his knuckles, cutting her lower lip, and leaving a nasty bruise on the left side of her mouth. Nothing Mackenzie couldn’t hide with a little – or quite a lot of – makeup.

The weekend had been painful, and not just because of Robert’s bad mood. Mackenzie was exhausted. She couldn’t sleep. She was terrified to close her eyes. As a child, she had been scared of the dark, and that was exactly how she felt; afraid and defenseless.

When she woke up Monday morning, the candles in her bedroom were lit. All four of them. Just like they had been the two mornings before.

Four days had passed since she had woken up in the dirty old room with Elena and the two vampires that had kidnapped them. Four days since that note caught fire on its own. Three days since she moved the orange juice with her mind. Two days since she heard the wind say her name for the second time. One day since the jar of sugar moved when she looked at it.

She managed to avoid Robert that morning. She was right on schedule. She took a shower, dried her hair, hid the bruises with makeup, put on a pair of dark blue jeans and a white shirt, then blew out the candles before she walked downstairs. She put her white bag and her black blazer on the counter before she sat down to finish the pancakes. She stared at the bottle of orange juice in front of her, waiting for it to move on its own. But after a couple of minutes, nothing happened. She sighed, either relieved or disappointed – she couldn’t tell – before she moved to take it. As she reached for it, it suddenly moved, exactly like it had the week before. She no longer had any excuse or rational explanation for it. She still didn’t know why it was happening now. That, and the other “incidents”, left no doubt in her mind; Stefan was right. She wasn’t human and she was indeed curious about it. Who wouldn’t be?

But as she drove to school, she wondered if it was wise to ask about it. Would it stop if she just ignored it? Could she ignore it? Could anyone give her answers? Was she a witch like Bonnie? If not, what else could she be? What else was out there?

As she asked herself how it was possible that she was something else other than human and not even know about it, a thought suddenly crossed her mind. What would be scarier? Knowing exactly what was happening to her and why? Or trying to live with the mystery until the day she died?

She didn’t pay attention in class. Again. She was too distracted, she had too much to think about and algebra wasn’t a priority at that moment. Unfortunately, it seemed her teacher disagreed with that. He called her once, but she didn’t hear him. He called her name a second time, but still, she didn’t answer. Determined to get her attention, he took his huge algebra book and slammed it on her table. She jumped, startled by the loud noise that resonated in the classroom.

“Are we daydreaming now, Miss Alemaund?”

“Sorry, sir,” she whispered so low he didn’t hear her.

“What was that?”

She could feel her cheeks turn red and her heart beat stronger.

“I’m sorry sir,” she repeated, trying to speak a little louder.

“Let’s see if you heard anything I just said.”

As she was incapable of answering any of his questions, she could see he was enjoying the torture he was putting her through. After a minute of him yelling, she couldn’t hold it anymore and as a tear fell down her cheek the room suddenly became louder. She couldn’t hear the silence of her uncomfortable classmates or the screams of her angry professor anymore. She could only hear the deafening buzzing noise that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. As if it was coming from within her. The cold air made her shiver and as the tear fell on the blank page of her notebook, the inside of the trash can caught fire.

She gasped as she saw the flames. The screams of her classmates alerted their teacher who quickly grabbed the bottle of water from his desk and emptied it to extinguish the small fire. Mackenzie couldn’t see their confused faces as she couldn’t move her eyes from the burnt trash can.

It wasn’t a typical Monday morning for Mackenzie.

She drove straight back home, afraid of what was going to happen next. Afraid she might hurt someone. Afraid she might hurt herself. She was so tired she couldn’t even think straight. She didn’t know what to do. Nothing was clear. Everything was blurry.

She was pacing in her room, asking herself questions she couldn't answer. The four candles were lit and burning hot in the room. She was tired, not just physically but emotionally. She was tired of being scared all the time. Tired of that knot inside her stomach. Her life was already a mess and now it was only getting worse.

_I didn’t ask for this. I don’t want to be a witch. I don’t want to have powers. I just want everything to go back to normal._

Normal? What was normal? Was anything normal? Had anything ever been normal?

She couldn’t even remember.

Nothing had been normal in two years. Robert’s behavior wasn’t normal. Living in fear wasn’t normal. What was so bad about having powers? What was so bad about being different? If Robert was normal, then she didn’t want to be _normal._

But was being different any better?

What to do?

_What to do?_

As the sky turned orange, she knew she didn’t have time – or the luxury – to continue battling with herself. Robert would be home soon, and dinner had to be ready when he arrived. She thought a cold shower might help her but all it did was give her more time to ask herself more questions.

She didn’t have the courage nor the appetite to have dinner with her stepfather and went to bed at eight. As she laid in bed, in her room lighted by four candles, she knew she couldn’t go on like this. Everything was easier when it was just Robert and her. Now, it wasn’t even about him anymore. She had bigger problems, and only Elena Gilbert could help her solve them.

Tuesday morning looked beautiful. The weather was nice and Mackenzie woke up in a good mood, despite the pain all over her face and the state she was in when she fell asleep. She had a silly thought, something her mother used to say; “the full moon would do that to you”.

 _At the full moon, men became wolves, and fairies became… even more fairy-ish?_ Mackenzie couldn’t exactly remember what it was, but things happened during a full moon, and not just good things. It made her wonder, if she had powers, maybe her mother had some too, and maybe the stories she told her when she was young weren’t just stories. She couldn’t tell if she was angry or sad about it. Probably angry. If her mother were a witch, and if she were a witch herself, she should have told her. Now, she was going through it alone, terrified, and with no idea of what to do.

When she stepped in Mystic High, the knot in her stomach came back and she started to feel nervous again. She had successfully managed to avoid Elena and her non-human friends so far, but that day she wasn’t nervous about not seeing them. On the contrary, she had made up her mind and decided it couldn’t hurt to ask a few questions. _Could it?_ She wasn’t entirely sure if she were going to ask about what was happening to her, but it might make her feel better to know a little more about the world she lived in. The real one.

Elena was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t at her locker, and Mackenzie didn’t see her car in the parking lot. She tried looking for Stefan or Bonnie but neither of them was around.

Maybe the reason why she had been so successful in avoiding them was because they never went to school.

After not accidentally setting something on fire and after she was done with her homework she decided to fix Robert’s dinner and leave him a note to explain why she wouldn’t be there until later that night. Of course, she wasn’t about to write the truth: _Just going to Elena’s house and ask her about vampires and witches, be home late, bye._

She wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of going to Elena’s house uninvited. But she had no way to contact her since she didn’t have her number. Besides, she wasn’t exactly uninvited. After all, even though she didn’t have the note anymore, Elena did say that she could go to them if she had any questions. And she had plenty of questions.

After a few moments of hesitation – which only made the knot in her stomach grow bigger – she looked at her face in the rearview mirror one last time to make sure her makeup was still perfect. Of course, it was impossible for her to hide the cut on the left side of her lower lip, but she had the perfect excuse ready.

It had been a long day. The cold night made Mackenzie shiver when she got out of her car. Suddenly, the wind blew stronger around her and, once again, she heard her name. But this time, it was more of a plea, a muffled scream, like the wind didn’t want her to take another step. She shivered a second time, bothered by the creepy sensation. She looked around, but there was no one there. She really hoped she would get some answers soon.

She knocked on the door and, while she waited for someone to answer, she regretted having forgotten her blazer in her car. She was freezing. It didn’t take long for the door to open. Elena, who looked bored and irritated, was surprised to see Mackenzie standing on her porch.

“Hey!”

“Hi… I’m sorry to bother you, I wanted to call but…”

“It’s fine,” Elena cut her off. “I’m happy to see you! I was worried about you. Please, come in.”

“Thanks,” she said with a polite smile.

As she entered, Mackenzie noticed the books and boxes scattered around the hallway.

“Are you moving somewhere?” Mackenzie joked, in an attempt to relax.

“Um, no… I have no idea what’s happening in my own house,” she chuckled. “How have you been?”

“Oh, you know… I’ve been better.”

“I bet. So, what can I do for you?”

Mackenzie didn’t reply right away. “I, uh…” she cleared her throat. “I have some questions…”

“I thought you might,” Elena smiled.

“And… I think you were right.”

“About what?”

“I think… there’s something wrong with me.”

Elena frowned. “Something wrong with you? You mean… the reason why you can’t be compelled?”

“Yeah… I think… I think I’m a witch or something. Strange things have been happening to me all weekend.”

Elena nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. We’ll help you. Bonnie is still learning too. You’ll be fine, I promise.”

Mackenzie was surprised that Elena wasn’t. She just told her that she might be a witch and she didn’t even flinch. In what world did one not get scared – or at least surprised – at something like that? A world Mackenzie wasn’t sure she wanted to live in.

“Come on, I’ll make you a cup of tea. I… have something to tell you.”

“What?”

That did not sound reassuring at all, and Mackenzie started to feel a little worried. Elena was about to answer when she heard someone walk towards them. It was her aunt Jenna coming from the kitchen. She squatted near the boxes and she appeared to be looking for something inside the closet beneath the stairs.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Elena asked her aunt.

“Oh, perfect timing,” she smiled when she saw her. “Hi,” she waved at Mackenzie.

“Hello,” she smiled politely.

Jenna gave a box filled with books to Elena.

“Whoa, whoa,” Elena reacted to the heavy thing. “What is this stuff?”

“Your mom’s files from the historical society. I got roped into helping Mrs. Lockwood. And by roped, I mean I’m very excited to participate,” she said the end unnecessarily loudly as the girls were perfectly capable of hearing her.

Mackenzie had always been fascinated by history and she started to look inside the box Elena was holding. She saw Jenna getting up in the corner of her eyes. The red-haired woman closed the door of the closet that blocked the way to the kitchen and Mackenzie looked up when she heard Elena gasp. The doppelgänger jumped, clearly startled by something. Mackenzie wondered what could possibly make her react this way and followed her gaze.

Her heart almost dropped when she saw the Original vampire standing in Elena’s kitchen, smiling and _alive_.

“Hey,” he grinned mischievously. “I’m Elijah.”

As soon as he spoke, the tall candle on the buffet cabinet at the girl’s left caught fire. Mackenzie completely regretted the choice she had made to come here.

Maybe normal wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Fortunately, Jenna didn’t see the candle magically light up on its own and didn’t even pay attention to it when she turned around to take the box from Elena. Elijah raised an eyebrow and looked amused by Mackenzie’s unimpressive magic trick.

“Elijah’s in town doing research on Mystic Falls,” Jenna explained.

Elijah smiled at Elena’s aunt as she walked past him to put the box down with the others on the kitchen counter. He walked towards the girls, still smiling. He didn’t look threatening, _except for the fact that he cut somebody’s head off six days before, **and he was supposed to be dead**._

“It’s a pleasure,” he said, holding his hand out to Elena.

They locked eyes, and it took her a few seconds to take the hand he was offering her. His eyes immediately moved on to Mackenzie.

“Hello there,” he said with a gentle voice.

Mackenzie didn’t have the courage nor the voice to answer. She was petrified, staring right back at his brown eyes. Elena quickly removed her hand from his and took Mackenzie’s hand, whom she knew was probably doing the absolute maximum to not run away screaming. Mackenzie hid her petite figure behind the doppelgänger, like she had done after Rose had tried to compel her, and squeezed Elena’s arm, like a little girl, afraid of a stranger, would cling to her mother.

“You’re welcome to stay here and rummage through this stuff. Or Elena and I could help you load it into your car,” Jenna told Elijah as she walked back in the hallway.

“Yeah, or I can get someone to pick it up tomorrow,” he said.

“Also a good plan,” Jenna nodded and smiled.

“Thank you so much for _inviting_ me into your home, Jenna,” he said as he followed her out of the house.

Elena moved carefully as she turned around to keep Mackenzie behind her back and away from Elijah.

“And, Elena, I hope to see you again sometime soon,” he told her, the double meaning obvious to the doppelgänger.

He hadn’t stopped smiling. His threat made Mackenzie shiver. He gave the scared girl one last and long look before he turned around and stepped out of the house.

“You said he was dead,” Mackenzie breathed out.

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. We were wrong. Come on.”

She took her hand and hurriedly led her upstairs.

“What are you doing?”

“I need to tell my brother he was invited inside!”

“What? What do you mean?”

Elena didn’t reply. She knocked hard on the door but Jeremy didn’t answer right away. She then reached for the handle but a hand caught her wrist and stopped her. She gasped, startled by the sudden apparition. She looked up to see Elijah, who was holding Mackenzie by her left arm. He gestured Elena to be quiet before he brought the unlucky girl to him and covered her mouth with his right hand. He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his left arm around her waist to keep her still. He could feel her tears falling on his hand, he could hear her heart beating fast in her chest, but above all, he could smell her blood pumping in her veins. Mackenzie felt his nose in her hair moving down her neck. He inhaled her delicious scent and she trembled in his arms when she heard him. He tightened his grip as he breathed in her appetizing fragrance and he felt her wince. He knew he couldn’t possibly have hurt her, that wasn’t what he was trying to do, and he controlled his strength perfectly. He must have pressed on an old injury. Mackenzie was looking at Elena with wild eyes, completely panicked, and scared out of her mind.

“Sh, sh, sh.”

She heard him shush gently in her left ear in an attempt to calm her. Jeremy finally opened the door, a minute after Elena had tried to alert him. He looked like he had just woken up.

“What is it?”

Elena ran a hand through her hair and tried to find a quick excuse.

“Um… Jenna was just asking me to get you to help her with the boxes.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jeremy nodded before he walked down the stairs, leaving the girls with the Original vampire.

“That’s a wise choice,” Elijah said as he let go of Mackenzie.

“What do you want?” Elena asked, as her frightened friend stumbled in her arms.

“I think it’s time you and I had a little chat.”

Mackenzie sniffed and wiped the tears off of her cheeks, wincing as she hurt herself in the process. She hoped her makeup was still doing its job. She didn’t feel like talking about all the bruises that were hidden behind it right now.

“Come on,” Elena said, leading them to her bedroom.

Elijah stepped in first. Mackenzie stayed close to the door, trying to catch her breath and calm down.

“You okay?” Elena asked her.

Mackenzie nodded. Elijah sat at the end of the room, on the couch, near the window.

“Forgive the intrusion,” he said. “I mean your family no harm.”

“No harm? Look at her! She’s terrified!”

“I apologize. But I knew if your brother saw her he’d know something was wrong. I just needed her to be quiet.”

Elena squeezed Mackenzie’s hand before she stepped closer to Elijah.

“Why did you kill those vampires when they tried to take me?” she asked, surprising Mackenzie.

“Because I didn’t want you to be taken.”

Both girls were confused. He could see Elena needed an explanation.

“Klaus is the most feared and hated of the Originals but those that fear him are desperate for his approval. If word gets out that the doppelgänger exists there’ll be a line of vampires eager to take you to him, and I can’t have that.”

“Isn’t that exactly what you’re trying to do?” Elena asked, still confused.

“Let’s just say that my goal is not to break the curse.”

“So what is your goal?” Elena asked and, once again, surprised Mackenzie by her tone. There was no fear in her voice. She sounded irritated.

“Klaus’ obsessions have made him paranoid. He’s a recluse. He trusts only those in his circle.”

“Like you?”

“Not anymore.”

“You don’t know where he is, do you?” she asked, but he didn’t reply. His silence gave her the answer she needed. “So you’re trying to use me to draw him out,” she guessed.

“Well, to do that I need you to stay put and stop trying to get yourself killed.”

Mackenzie frowned. _What was he talking about?_ Maybe she had been wrong all along. Maybe Elena wasn’t brave. Maybe she just didn’t have a survival instinct.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Elena asked him. She might be braver than Mackenzie, but she wasn’t stupid.

“Well, if I wasn’t being truthful, your family would be dead and I’d be taking you to Klaus right now. Instead, I’m here and I’m prepared to offer you a deal.”

“What kind of a deal?”

Elijah stood up. “Do nothing.” He started walking around the room, and it made Mackenzie uneasy. She pressed herself against the wall, hoping he would stay away from her. But, seeing how he was looking at her, she doubted it. “Do nothing, live your life, stop fighting. And when the time is right, you and I shall draw Klaus out together and I shall make certain your friends remain unharmed.” He was talking to Elena but looking right at Mackenzie. She had him in the corner of her eyes but was way too scared to make eye contact. He was standing in the middle of the room with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. He tilted his head on the side and looked her up and down, curious about her, about her smell, about her powers.

“And then what?”

Finally, he turned his attention back on Elena and she could see on his face he was trying to make himself perfectly clear. “Then I kill him.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

Elena doubted he was even capable of killing Klaus. He could see she wasn’t entirely convinced.

“I’m a man of my word, Elena. I make a deal, I keep a deal.”

_Tell that to Trevor…_

Elena looked back at Mackenzie who shyly looked back at her.

“How are you gonna be able to keep everybody safe?”

“You know, I notice you have a friend, Bonnie, is it? She seems to possess the gift of magic, just like your friend right here,” he said, pointing at Mackenzie. “I have friends with similar gifts.”

“You know witches,” Elena nodded.

“And together, we can protect everybody that matters to you. So, do we have a deal?”

Elena thought about it for a moment before an idea crossed her mind. If she were to do this, she should at least make sure she got the most out of it.

“I need you to do one more thing for me.”

Mackenzie frowned, wondering what game Elena was playing.

“We’re negotiating now?”

“My friend Stefan is stuck in the tomb with Katherine. You said you knew witches. I want you to get him out.”

Mackenzie was surprised, and worried. The last time she saw Stefan was Friday, at school, when he was nicely trying to help her and she just walked away from him. She hoped he was okay.

Elijah considered it for a moment, before he nodded.

“Very well. I assume you want Katerina to stay in the tomb?”

“That would be preferable.”

“I agree,” he nodded. He turned his head towards Mackenzie who instantly looked away which made him smirk. “Then, we have a deal.”

He made his way to the door and stopped in front of Mackenzie, who found her feet to be more interesting than him. Elena watched carefully as the Original looked down at the trembling girl.

“So you think you’re a witch, mmh?” he said, trying to get her attention. “No, I don’t think so.”

That did the trick. She looked up at him with her big wet hazel eyes filled with questions, and she could see he was proud of himself. Or maybe he was just enjoying what a big mess she was. He frowned when he saw the cut on her lower lip. She flinched when she saw his hand getting closer to her face. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He slowly moved his fingertips along her jaw. His eyes travelled on her face as if he could see right through the makeup. She looked away as he brushed his thumb over the visible wound. He caught her chin between his fingers to gently make her look up, and he trapped her eyes in his. She was surprised by the absence of pain. She didn’t understand the look in his eyes. It was something she had never seen before. It wasn’t hatred, it wasn’t pity, it wasn’t just mere curiosity, it was… fascination. His eyes fell back on her lips, and his cold thumb returned to her cut. She was fazed by his gentle touch and his apparent concern.

“What happened here?” he asked, in a tone that unsettled her. He didn’t sound worried, maybe a little bit angry, but definitely curious.

She didn’t answer. She knew he wouldn’t believe any lie she would tell him. He seemed like a particular smart man. Even though he wasn’t technically a man. And she didn’t want to upset him by doing something as stupid as lying.

_Why did he care anyway?_

“Nothing,” she whispered so low Elena didn’t hear her.

“Nothing, uh?” he repeated, as he caressed her small wound one last time.

She flinched again when he moved his hand up. His thumb grazed over the black eye he wasn’t supposed to see.  She winced as he touched the sensitive area.

“What do you think she is?” Elena asked suddenly, weirded out by the heavy silence, and hoping to stop whatever was happening in front of her.

“Oh, I think she’s a rare, truly beautiful creature,” he replied, catching Mackenzie’s eyes one more time, smirking as he watched her cheeks turn red. “Way more powerful than any witch ever was…”

“What are you talking about?” Elena insisted.

“It’s just a theory, of course, I can’t be sure of anything at this point. But if I’m right, she’s my first.”

“Your first what?”

“Well, that’s for her to find out, isn’t it?”

“What makes you think she’s not a witch?”

“The same reason why her species is extinct,” he answered. “Her blood.”

It wasn’t what Mackenzie wanted to hear. Not being human was one thing, being the last of an extinct species was another. How was she supposed to figure out what she was if he weren’t going to tell her? If there were no one left who knew? How was she supposed to protect herself?

Elijah could see he had scared her even more than she already was, and he wondered what was going on inside her head. As someone who had been a vampire for so long, he was used to being feared, but he could see she already had enough reasons to be afraid. He was a man of honor who didn’t like to be unnecessary cruel, and though he usually didn’t mind what people thought of him – especially because they were mostly afraid – he regretted causing her such needless distress. Cutting Trevor’s head off in front of her was definitely inconsiderate.

“If you want to know you only need to ask, I suppose,” he told her.

Elena watched as Mackenzie stared, speechless, at the Original vampire. The doppelgänger had never seen anyone more confused. Mackenzie didn’t know anything anymore. Should she be afraid? Should she be sad? Should she be happy? Should she feel proud of what she was, whatever it was?

Elijah was looking at her like he was mesmerized, like he was looking for something in her eyes, but to Elena, it looked more like he wanted nothing more than to taste her blood. Her blood that smelled so good, it apparently caused the extinction of an entire species.

There was a moment of silence, during which Elena watched the two of them stare at each other. She expected Mackenzie to say something, to ask, to ask about what she was, about who she was, but she didn’t. She stayed quiet.

Eventually, Elijah straightened up, put his hands back in his pockets, and took a step back as to not cause any more discomfort to the beautiful young girl.

“Your friend will be free shortly,” he said to Elena.

He didn’t give them the chance to reply as he immediately reached for the door and vanished.

Mackenzie breathed out as soon as he disappeared. It was like someone had just lifted a weight off her chest. The two girls felt relieved as they were left alone, as if they were finally able to breathe again. Elena quickly made her way towards Mackenzie. She closed the door before she said:

“Are you okay?”

Mackenzie couldn’t even nod. She wasn’t strong enough to even think about lying. The way Elijah had been with her, the way he looked at her, the way he touched her… it wasn’t anything like what she was used to. There was no hatred in his eyes, no contempt in his words, no violence in his actions.

“You should sit down,” Elena said, noticing how pale she was. She took her hand and led her to her bed.

“That was…” she tried to speak but failed.

“Yeah,” Elena agreed. She had no word either. “But don’t worry. Elijah agreed to the deal, he’ll protect you. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

“What about Klaus?”

“Klaus wants nothing to do with you.”

“What if… what if he hears about me, about… my blood? What if vampires are the reason why my species… whatever I am, is extinct?”

“Elijah said he wasn’t even sure. You might be a witch. We’ll ask Bonnie. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

“You don’t know that,” Mackenzie disagreed, looking at her with tears in her eyes. “I don’t even know what I am.”

“I’ve only recently found out I’m a doppelgänger. Like you I’m one of a kind. Well, sort of… On the bright side, nobody wants to sacrifice you to break a curse,” she tried to joke.

Mackenzie couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I’m sorry… You have more reasons to be afraid than me.”

“I’m not afraid.”

Mackenzie had noticed that. “Don’t you think maybe you should be?”

“I’m not afraid of what’ll happen to me. I’m scared Klaus will kill everyone I love…”

“Is that what Elijah was talking about earlier? When he said you tried to get yourself killed?”

“I tried to surrender to Klaus. To escape him, Katherine became a vampire. To get back at her he killed her entire family. I can’t risk that.”

“I understand that,” Mackenzie said after a moment of reflection. “Do you really think you can trust Elijah?”

Elena sighed. “No… But what other choice do I have?”

“I don’t know,” Mackenzie whispered.

“Are _you_ gonna be okay?”

“I don’t know,” she repeated. “On the bright side, nobody wants to sacrifice me to break a curse.”

Elena chuckled. At least she still had a sense of humor.

“You’ll get used to it. It’s not gonna be easy, but we’ll be here for you. If you need anything, just ask, okay?” the doppelgänger said.

“Thank you,” she gave her a weak smile. “I should get some rest.”

“Yeah. Be careful out there, drive straight back home.”

“I will. I hope Stefan comes back safe.”

Elena smiled, thankful, then hugged her.

“I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of this.”

Mackenzie gave her a small smile. “Me too.”

It was even colder outside than when she arrived. She quickly walked to her car, locked herself inside, and grabbed her jacket. She lived on the other side of town. She had to drive downtown then drive through the woods to reach her neighborhood. So many things were happening inside her head, it gave her a headache. She couldn’t focus on any of the things that had just happened. She could only see his brown eyes looking right back at her and she wondered if he were just merely curious or if he were planning something else, something that wouldn’t be good for her. After all, he was a vampire and he did seem pretty attracted to her blood. She had every reason to be scared of him. And yet, even after days of him haunting her nightmares, she slowly started to change her mind. He had saved Elena’s life. He wasn’t planning on killing or sacrificing her to break a curse. He just wanted to kill the monster who wanted Elena dead. As she slowly came to the conclusion that Elijah might not be entirely bad after all, she suddenly remembered Trevor and his head flying away from his body.  
Maybe there was no such thing as a good vampire.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice she was out of town. She thought she saw something in the corner of her eye and it made her focus on the dark road of the forest. She saw what appeared to be a large dog emerge from the left side of the woods and she gasped, startled, as she hit the brakes. The car hit the animal and she heard it whimper in pain.

“Oh my God,” she breathed out, panicked. She had never had an accident before, never drove over an animal, not even a squirrel, a cat or a small rabbit. She loved animals, and she really hoped the dog was going to be okay.

She quickly got out and rushed towards the front of the car but there was nothing there.

“What the…”

She was half confused, half relieved. She was certain she had hit something, she had felt it and she had heard it, but maybe she hadn’t hurt it too badly and it had been able to run off into the woods. She sighed, relieved, and ran a hand through her hair. She turned around to get back inside her car but she jumped away when she saw the animal was right in front of her. And it wasn’t a dog.

It growled and she stepped back as it moved forward. Her only chance was to get back inside her car before the wolf caught her. But its unnatural glowing yellow eyes made her think that it wasn’t just a normal wolf. It was a full moon, and she had been through enough to know exactly what she had in front of her.

Could things get any worse?

She moved slowly, hoping to get the door of the passenger side. But she had no such luck. The wolf growled louder, like a warning. Mackenzie knew that whatever happened, if she ran into the woods, she would die. Her only option, her only chance, was her car. And it was so close, and yet so far away.

Suddenly, the wolf jumped on the car, giving her plan a zero percent chance of success.

So, she could light candles up in her sleep, hear the wind talk and move things with her mind, but she couldn’t defend herself when a werewolf had decided to make her its dinner. What a joke.

Her feet didn’t leave the ground as she tried to move back as slowly as possible. She wanted nothing more than to run away but she knew that was the dumbest thing she could do. Not that she had many options left. She felt her feet leave the concrete of the road and reach the wet grass of the forest. She couldn’t move her eyes away from the beast. She couldn’t tell in the dark, but its fur was either white or light grey. Or maybe both. Who cared? She was about to be ripped to pieces by a werewolf, she didn’t care what it looked like.

The wolf barked twice and Mackenzie couldn’t stop herself and started running. She entered the dark and scary forest, running as fast as she could, but she wasn’t in anyway fast enough. Only half a minute after she entered the woods, she tripped over a root and cried out as she fell on the wet cold leaf-covered ground. She propped herself up on her bleeding elbows and turned around to see the wolf was just a couple of feet away from her. She could practically feel its disgusting breath on her face. She saw it was ready to jump on her, but as it was about to do it the wind became stronger.

The wolf growled at first, but the wind only blew harder. After a few seconds, the wolf’s growls turned into whimpers, as if it were scared. It didn’t take long for the wolf to get seriously frightened. Angry, but frightened. Its fear was stronger though, as it barked one last time before it ran away. It only took the wind a few seconds to disappear.

Mackenzie took a deep breath and tried to settle down. She was panting and trembling and cold.

She was so done.

She was so tired of being scared all the time.

She was about to get up when she heard something. She thought it was the wolf coming back, but it sounded more like footsteps. She turned her head to the left, where she thought she heard the noises come from. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

“Mackenzie?”

The vampire’s presence in the woods more than surprised her.

“What are you doing here?”


	3. The Good Side of Things

Mackenzie was sitting on the cold and wet leaf-covered ground, looking around, frightened at the idea of the wolf coming back. But the noise she was hearing came from the opposite direction that the beast had taken and it sounded more like footsteps. It didn’t make her feel better though. Who could be walking around in the forest at this hour? No one with good intentions, that was for sure.

Mackenzie quickly got up, almost falling again under her weak legs, ready to run back to her car at any moment. The footsteps became closer and she took a step back when she saw a figure coming out of the darkness.

“Mackenzie?”

Her eyes widened when she recognized the vampire, and she breathed out, half-relieved.

“What are you doing here?”

“Caroline! What are _you_ doing here?”

“I, um,” she paused. The blonde had been told about Mackenzie and everything she should know – like her incredible smell and the mystery of why she couldn’t be compelled. But Caroline had been busy with some business of her own and had no idea what Mackenzie knew and what she shouldn’t know. She tried to figure out what she could say, keeping in mind that Damon couldn’t know about this otherwise she and Tyler would both be dead. “Promise you won’t say anything to anyone,” she ordered.

Mackenzie was surprised by the blonde’s request. It was the last thing she expected her to say, especially because it seemed that everybody in Mystic Falls knew everything about anything. Except for her, of course.

“Um… sure, okay,” she nodded.

“I’m helping Tyler. It’s his first full moon.”

“Tyler?” Mackenzie repeated as her eyes grew bigger. She felt like nothing could surprise her anymore and yet, she couldn’t believe that. “Tyler Lockwood? Tyler’s a werewolf? _That_ ,” she asked, pointing at the direction the wolf had taken, “That was Tyler?”

“What? No! I mean yes. I mean…” Caroline spluttered. “You were attacked by a werewolf?” she almost shouted.

Mackenzie nodded. She swallowed heavily before she took a deep breath. It was over now, at least. She needed to start seeing the good sides of things or else she would lose her mind.

“No offense but… how are you still alive?” Caroline asked with a suspicious tone.

“Uh… it… it went away,” Mackenzie shook her head. She wasn’t feeling like telling the truth, especially because she didn’t know it herself. And she wasn’t about to tell the blonde how the wind saved her life.

Caroline raised her eyebrows and the look on her face told Mackenzie she didn’t believe her. “It went away?” she repeated.

“Yes.”

Mackenzie was too tired for this. It was too much for a single night. First Elijah, then the wolf, then this? She was too weak for Caroline’s interrogation and she had no patience for it, especially because it sounded like she was calling her a liar.

“I’m gonna go home. I’ve had a long night,” Mackenzie mumbled.

Caroline dismissed the entire encounter, considering that she had to go back to Tyler and that Mackenzie’s smell was starting to slowly drive her insane.

“Remember not to say anything to anyone!” Caroline reminded her. “And… you’re one lucky girl,” she said, before she vanished into the dark forest.

Mackenzie disagreed. She didn’t feel lucky. Quite the opposite, actually. Not only did she feel the weight from her misfortune, but she also felt guilty and selfish about it because Elena was for sure unluckier than her.

She shivered as she found herself alone once again. She rubbed her arms as she looked around one more time before she walked back to her car.

 *************************************************************

****************************************

Mackenzie fell asleep more easily than she thought she would. She had nightmares all night long but her alarm was the only thing that woke her up. She felt numb. She would have been happy about it if she could have felt anything. Everything had changed but it seemed like everything had stayed the same. She still had to cook breakfast for Robert. Still had to wait for him to leave. Still had to go to school.

Focusing in class was easier than before, perhaps because it allowed her to think about something else for a while. Some people say “When you’re afraid of spiders you’re more likely to find one in your bedroom”. Well, that settled it. Mackenzie wasn’t going to let fear paralyze her and take over her life. She had to grow up. She didn’t want to be the weak and pathetic little girl who was afraid every time there was a little wind outside anymore. She had powers and she was not only going to learn to accept it but she was going to enjoy it. She chose to take the good sides of things for once. She might not know what she was or what she was capable of but she wasn’t going to let it stop her. She could move objects with her mind; _that_ was fun. At least, it was supposed to be.

The good sides of things. One step at a time.

Mackenzie didn’t see Elena or Caroline at school and there was no sign of Stefan or Bonnie either. She started to wonder if they ever went to class anymore. But then she realized they were probably busy trying to save Elena’s life and they had more important things to do than go to school.

As she walked down the hallways of Mystic High to exit the building, she noticed a pair of eyes watching her. She shivered as it burnt her back which was likely the intention. She turned around and saw someone she had never seen before. He was a young black teenager. He wasn’t tall but was still taller than her, he had brown eyes and his head was shaven. He was staring at her with a strange expression she didn’t recognize. It looked like anger, hatred… maybe fear? Maybe all of it together. The fire in his eyes made her feel uneasy and she quickly looked away from him before she walked outside. She thought maybe she got it wrong and he wasn’t looking at her. After all, she had never met him, what could his problem be?

She walked to her car, opened her door and threw her bag onto the passenger seat. She dropped her keys, sighed, and quickly picked them up but when she looked back up she wasn’t alone. She gasped and jumped, startled, as she unconsciously took a step back and banged into the opened door of her car.

“Apologies,” the suited vampire said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Elijah,” she breathed out.

“Miss Alemaund,” he smirked, as if he found it amusing that she was scared of him.

“Wh- what do you want?” she stuttered. “Elena’s not here.”

“Oh I know. I’m here for you.”

Her heart skipped a beat. That was the scariest thing she had ever heard.

“No need to be afraid,” he added. “I mean you no harm.”

She stared at him like he was crazy, or maybe she was crazy, she didn’t really know.

“Fo- for me?” she repeated and he nodded. “Why?”

“Well,” he started to say as he unbuttoned his jacket and leaned against the car. “I’m here to make a deal I think could benefit both of us.”

He wasn’t looking at her. He looked around, not at anything in particular, before his eyes landed back on the small teenager. He could see she was confused. She had nothing to offer him and she wondered what he wanted from her.

“A deal? With me?”

“Yes. You see, you have questions and I have answers. If I help you, I only ask you to help me in return.”

“You… you want me to help you? To do what?”

“Save Miss Gilbert’s life,” he merely replied.

Mackenzie frowned. “You think I can help Elena?”

“I do,” he nodded. “Of course, we’ll need to make sure of that as soon as possible. Klaus will be here soon, I’m sure.”

“I… I,” she stuttered, more confused than ever. “I don’t understand. You… You said you had a plan to help her.”

“I do. But if my suspicions are correct you can help make the plan a little better.”

“What do you think I can do for you?”

Elijah took a step forward and Mackenzie would have stepped back if she hadn’t been trapped between the Original vampire and her car door. She tried to find some courage and not look away. His eyes found the cut on her lip again and it was still a mystery to her why he was so interested by it.

“Hey, Mack!”

Both Mackenzie and Elijah turned to see Matt Donovan waving at them two cars down. He had a curious and worried look on his face. Elijah took a step back and let Mackenzie handle the situation.

“What’s up Matt?” she replied in a voice she wanted steady.

“Everything okay?” he asked, eyeing Elijah.

The vampire chuckled as he looked up at the sky.

“Everything’s great,” she lied, smiling at the quarterback.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, thanks,” she said, waving goodbye.

He wasn’t convinced but what else could he do? He smiled back before he got into his car and drove away.

“Where were we?” Elijah asked.

“What do you want from me?”

“Ah, right,” he sighed as he looked back up at the sky one more time, putting his hands in his pockets. “First I need you to come with me. I’ll introduce you to… ‘friends’ of mine who will be able to confirm who you are.”

“Who… who I am?”

“What you are, if you prefer.”

“What am I?”

“Come with me and you’ll find out.”

Mackenzie stared at him, hesitant. He could see she was tempted. But she wasn’t a fool. She knew she couldn’t and shouldn’t trust him. But she also knew he wasn’t lying because he was right; he needed her and she needed him.

 “You can help me control my powers?” she asked, remembering the trashcan accident.

“I can,” he nodded. “I can teach you everything you need to know. You’re a very powerful creature, Mackenzie. You can be strong. You can help Elena.”

That was everything she wanted. To be strong and fearless, to be able to protect herself and others instead of being a victim. It sounded too good to be true. He wasn’t a guardian angel. She didn’t have one. She knew he wanted something from her and he was probably not going to take no for an answer, but at least she could get something out of it. She needed to take a chance, to take the good sides of things. He was offering her help, and she had to take it. But there was a fine line between bravery and stupidity and she hoped she was being brave and not stupid.

“Okay,” she agreed. “But I have conditions.”

She stared back nervously at Elijah who was obviously surprised. He didn’t expect her to negotiate, though he didn’t mind it.

“I’m listening.”

“You can’t lie to me. I need to be able to trust you.”

Elijah nodded. “Okay.”

“And you have to answer all of my questions,” she continued. “All of them.”

Elijah frowned. Clearly, he had a problem with that. “Then I have conditions too,” he said. “Whatever I say to you, you can’t repeat to anyone. Not even Elena.”

“Why not? You made a deal with her, you’re not supposed to hide anything from her.”

“I’m not,” he said. “Some of the answers you’re seeking have nothing to do with her. And it’s for your own protection as well. You can’t let anyone know what you are, Mackenzie. It wouldn’t be safe.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you everything, as promised. I’m a man of my word.”

“Am I in danger?”

“Not at the moment.”

He could see he was scaring her. She wasn’t a particularly courageous person but that wasn’t abnormal. After all, this was an abnormal situation and her life was getting more and more complicated each day. Elijah stepped forward. He slowly moved closer. She stared at him with scared eyes as if she were waiting for him to hurt her.

“Don’t be scared,” he said.

She got lost in his gaze, completely hypnotized by him. He was so confusing. He was supposed to be a murderous scary immortal vampire and yet, she didn’t feel threatened. He wasn’t hurting her. He didn’t seem like he wanted to. He was looking at her as if there were something there only he could see. As if she was a fragile porcelain doll ready to break at any minute and he didn’t want that to happen. The complete opposite to the looks she was used to getting from Robert. He wanted her to break, and he wanted to be the one to break her.

 “Why are you being nice to me?” she asked in a brittle voice.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because…” she said, “you’re the bad guy.”

Elijah chuckled but she could see he was a little hurt by her assumption.

“I’ve been alive for a very long time. It’s more complicated than that. But I don’t blame you for thinking that way. After all, we did meet under terrible circumstances. First impressions are crucial.”

She looked down, ashamed of herself, though she really shouldn’t be. Elijah finally stepped back.

“Come on. I’ll drive.”

Mackenzie shook her head. She grabbed his sleeve and made him look at her.

“Tell me what I am,” she demanded.

He sighed. He hesitated but he could see she wasn’t going to let it go. It was the most important question of her life, and she deserved to know. He looked around to make sure nobody was paying attention or that no one was close enough to hear before he looked back down at the impatient girl whose hope was shining in her hazel eyes. That’s when he realized she didn’t have anyone. He shouldn’t be the one telling her. Her parents should be. Someone close to her, someone she trusted, someone she knew. It wasn’t fair for her to hear it from the mouth of someone she was terrified of, someone she considered a monster. He was going to have to make it up to her.

“You’re an elemental, Mackenzie.”


	4. Creature of the Past

The parking lot was empty. All the students had gone. There were only a few cars left from teachers still working inside the building but still, the parking lot was silent. Mackenzie and Elijah hadn’t moved or spoken. She didn’t ask him to repeat what he had just said, though she thought she had misheard him.

Every day was a new day, with new information and new threats. New unanswered questions. New fears. New reasons to stay hidden inside the house.

The silent wind was blowing Mackenzie’s long brown hair as she stared at the vampire standing in front of her. The words he had just spoken were echoing inside of her head as if she were trying to solve a riddle. _“You’re an elemental, Mackenzie,”_ he said, as if it meant anything to her. As if she knew, as if she was supposed to know.

“Wh- what?” is all she managed to say after a long moment of silence.

“An elemental. A supernatural creature with the ability to control one or several elements.”

She hadn’t misheard, and how could she not believe him? It explained the wind and the fires. Apparently, it also explained why she couldn’t be compelled and why she smelled the way she did.

“Ho- how do you know? Are you sure?”

Elijah smiled as he took a step forward. Mackenzie straightened up, remembering she was trapped between him and the car door. She saw his eyes move to her neck and his hand approach her face. He brushed her hair away from her shoulder and his gaze found her vein.

“I’m quite sure,” he said as his fingertips grazed the blue line of her neck. “Though, I was told you’d smell better. No offense.”

“No- none taken…”

“I didn’t meet many people who had the privilege to come across an elemental but they all told me the same thing. Your fragrance, your blood... drove them crazy.”

“Then, ma- maybe I’m not an elemental,” she stuttered in a frightened whisper.

Elijah slightly shook his head.

“Come on,” he said as he gestured her to get in the car. “My ‘friends’ will confirm it.”

“Your friends? How?”

“They’re witches,” he said, but then made a face and decided to correct himself, “warlocks.”

The knot in Mackenzie’s stomach became more painful. She wanted to be brave and play with the adults but she started to regret her decision. Following an Original vampire to see witches? That didn’t seem brave, that sounded stupid.

“Don’t worry,” he told her when he saw her worried face. “I made a deal with Elena to keep her friends safe.”

“I’m not her friend,” Mackenzie corrected him in a whisper, though she had no doubt Elena would help her if she could.

“Is that so?” he asked, seeming curious. “Then how can I convince you that I’ll keep you safe?”

Mackenzie didn’t know what to tell him, because she didn’t know the answer. Maybe if he could go back in time and not kill Trevor in front of her the way he did, maybe she wouldn’t be so afraid of him. But what else could she do now except trust his word?

_“I’m a man of my word. I make a deal, I keep a deal.”_

“You can promise me,” she whispered so low as if she didn’t want to say it, as if she knew it was idiotic.

She could see he was surprised. He too thought it strange she would trust his word.

“I promise never to harm you in anyway.”

She looked him in his brown eyes, trying to see something, anything she should be afraid of, something evil, but she couldn’t. Sincerity and sympathy was all she found.

“Never?” she repeated in a whisper. “What if I say no? What if I ask you to leave me alone?”

“Then I’ll leave you alone.”

Mackenzie was surprised, both by his answer and by the fact that he didn’t try to convince her to not refuse the deal. He didn’t look angry or annoyed or impatient. If she had done that with Robert she would already be bleeding and crying on the kitchen floor. She was testing him, trying to figure out if she could trust him, if he was as bad as she thought.

“Really?”

“You don’t need to be involved in this. It has nothing to do with you, and it’s dangerous, if you don’t want to help me, I can’t make you.”

“You could make me…”

“I could,” he nodded, “but I won’t.”

Mackenzie was confused. She didn’t understand why he was being like this. Why he was being nice. But then, she remembered she didn’t know him, she remembered he saved Elena’s life, she remembered the deal he made with her and the part he was going to play in her survival. She remembered he just wanted to help her, that he was willing to answer all of her questions, even things she shouldn’t know, things Elena didn’t know, and she started to wonder if she was being stupid for thinking she could actually trust him because it appeared that he trusted her.

“What do you want from me?”

Elijah frowned. He hesitated. It probably wasn’t a good idea to tell her. He looked away as he put his hands in his pockets.

“I have a plan to take down Klaus. If my suspicions are correct I think you’re powerful enough to help me.”

“What suspicions? Help you do what?”

“When I heard your last name for the first time I thought it sounded familiar. My ‘friends’, they recognized it. They know stories about your family. Most witches do.”

“My… my family?”

“Yes. The Alemaunds and the Fays. Powerful families. Both thought to have been gone.”

There she had it. Confirmation. Her mother did know. Of course, Mackenzie wasn’t a stupid girl, she knew if she weren’t human, at least one of her parents wasn’t either. But it was one thing to think it and another to hear it. She took a deep breath as she wiped the tear that had made its way onto her cheek.

“What do you know about my family?” she asked in a trembling voice.

“I think you should hear it from Jonas. He knows what’s true and what isn’t. I only know what I heard and I’m afraid I can’t really trust the sources. I wouldn’t want to mislead you.”

She nodded as she sniffed. “Fine, let’s go.”

Elijah watched as she made her way to the other side of the car, leaving him her keys.

It was going to be another hard day for Mackenzie.

 

***

 

Many questions went through Mackenzie’s head during the silent drive. A wave of sadness had taken over her after she heard her mother had kept the truth from her. It didn’t feel right to be angry at her parents, they weren’t there to explain themselves, it made her feel guilty. But she couldn’t help but wonder why. What was so horrible about being an elemental it prevented her mother from ever saying anything?

“Are you okay?” Elijah asked, startling her.

She hadn’t noticed the car had stopped. They were near the park, next to the Mystic Grill. She nodded to answer. She flinched when she saw his hand come near her face. She watched, wary, as he cupped her cheek. She was confused for a quick second but then he wiped her tears away with his thumb and she realized she had been crying. She looked away quickly and dried her cheeks as she cleared her throat.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“No apologies necessary,” he replied before he exited the car.

She tried to pull herself together, made sure there were no more tears on her face, and took a deep breath. As she was about to open the door, it opened itself. Elijah was standing there, holding his hand out to her. She smiled politely at him as she took it. Elijah was a gentleman, and not just because of the suit.

“I have to tell you something before we enter,” he said, eyeing the apartment building.

“What?” she quickly asked with a panicked look on her face.

“Witches and elementals were never friends. Don’t be surprised if they’re rude or… cold. They need you as much as I do, but they won’t like you.”

What was she supposed to say to that? How was she supposed to feel about that? She couldn’t help but think back to her mother’s stories about fairies and witches and if it was as bad as she said. “Cold” wasn’t exactly how Elijah’s friends were going to be. Every new thing she learned made her feel more and more exhausted and she suddenly had the desire to crawl inside her bed and sleep forever.

She followed him inside the building. They climbed the stairs in silence. He could see she was tense. She gulped when he knocked on the door. A black man in his forties answered. He looked familiar to Mackenzie though she knew she had never met him. The way he looked at her made her shiver. It was worse than any look Robert ever gave her, it was worse than hatred, worse than disgust. She had never seen that look before. It terrified her. She unconsciously moved closer to Elijah who noticed and placed his hand on her lower back for support.

“Jonas.”

“Elijah,” the warlock growled.

“This is Mackenzie. She’s going to help us get your daughter back.”

Mackenzie looked up at the vampire with a surprised look on her face. She thought that information, or that reminder, would make the warlock less hostile towards her, but it didn’t.

“Let’s get on with it,” Jonas said before he stepped on the side to let them enter.

Elijah gestured the elemental to enter first and she quickly stepped inside, looking away from Jonas. She could feel the burning gaze of the warlock on her.

The room was brown, cold and somber. There were books everywhere. The kitchen was on the left and the living room was on the right, Mackenzie guessed it was the living room even though there was no television because of the couch that was hidden under all the books.

“Dad?”

When Mackenzie looked up, she understood why Jonas looked familiar. He was the father of the teenager she saw in the hallway of Mystic High earlier that day.

“Luka this is Mackenzie,” Jonas said her name as if she were the worst person who had ever lived.

Luka looked the elemental up and down and she couldn’t help but feel self-conscious. She looked up at Elijah who nodded at her, silently telling her everything was going to be okay.

“I was right, wasn’t I?” Luka asked his father. “She’s an elemental.”

“Yes,” Jonas replied as if it weren’t good news. “But there’s something wrong with her,” he told Elijah.

They were acting as if she weren’t in the room.

“What do you mean?” the vampire asked.

“She doesn’t appear to be an elemental.”

“Then how can you be sure she is?”

“The same way you can tell a werewolf is a werewolf even in their human form.”

“So, what’s wrong with her?” the Original asked.

“I’m not sure,” Jonas said. “Come on.”

The warlock gestured the elemental to join him and sit at the wooden round table in the kitchen. She looked up at Elijah, hesitant, who nodded again. She slowly made her way to the table and sat in front of Jonas.

“Give me your hands.”

She slowly did as he asked. He seized her trembling hands with a painful strength then closed his eyes. She shivered at his touch. She felt a weird sensation run through her body. She watched as he did whatever it was he was doing. After a few seconds he let go of her and looked up at Elijah.

“There’s a spell,” he said. “It’s stopping her from using her powers.”

Somehow Mackenzie wasn’t surprised. It explained why she never had accidents like setting pieces of paper on fire before. But it raised another question, who cast that spell and why?

“It’s powerful,” he continued. “The kind of spell only the witch who cast it can undo.”

“So you can’t help her?” Elijah asked.

“I can,” Jonas sighed. “It’s vulnerable now that the witch is dead. It appears that his or her spirit has been trying to break it too.”

“Are you sure a witch cast the spell? Could it be her parents?”

“Normally I’d say no. But with an Alemaund you never know,” he grumbled.

Mackenzie’s head was spinning. Did they just say her parents cast the spell and their _spirits_ were trying to undo it? Did he just say her parents were different from other elementals?

“Can you tell what magic she possesses?” Elijah asked.

“Elementals don’t possess magic,” Jonas growled as if Elijah had just insulted him. “And no. The spell is warding her.”

“What do you call their powers if not magic?” the vampire wondered ironically.

“Witches possess magic. Elementals are… different,” he spat.

“Right,” Elijah scoffed. “Can you undo the spell now? Or do you need a full moon or some other ingredients impossible to find?”

“I can do it now,” Jonas said as he rolled his eyes. “It’ll hurt,” he told Mackenzie, not because he was concerned, but because it gave him pleasure.

Mackenzie looked up at Elijah and gave him a scared look, but there was nothing he could do. She was panicking. What if she didn’t want the spell to be undone? What if she wanted the spell to be reinforced? She removed her hands from Jonas’ and quickly stood up.

“I don’t think I can do this,” she breathed out. “Maybe the spell is there for a reason. Maybe I shouldn’t… Maybe I should stay human.”

“You’re not human,” Luka said. “You’re an elemental. You were born an elemental and you always will be.”

“I never… I never had powers before! It all started last week! I… I… I don’t know anything about being an elemental, I don’t know… I can’t… I can’t do this…”

“Yes, you can,” Elijah said. He stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders, making her look at him. “I wasn’t born a vampire. I’m an abomination of nature. And if I and every other vampire in the world can do it, then you can too, because you were born an elemental. It’s who you are. It’s who you’re supposed to be.”

“But I…” she started to say with a trembling voice, “I’m not strong like you. I’m not brave like Elena.”

“I’ve had a thousand years to get strong. And Elena, she’s been through a lot too.”

“But she had help,” she cried. “She had… She had Stefan and Bonnie. I’m alone!”

What could Elijah reply to that? She was right. She was indeed alone. And knowing that only Jonas and Luka could help her wasn’t reassuring.

“I know it’s scary. But it’s who you are and there’s nothing you can do about it. You don’t have to be afraid. Being an elemental isn’t a bad thing.”

“What if I don’t want to be an elemental?”

“You don’t exactly have a choice,” Luka mumbled.

“You’ll be fine,” Elijah told her, even though he knew she wasn’t going to be. Vampires, werewolves and witches were her enemies, she will never be safe. “You’re an elemental. You’re one of the most powerful creatures on this planet. You’ll be okay.”

Mackenzie looked down and wiped the tears off of her face as she sniffed and sobbed. She didn’t want to be one of the most powerful creatures on the planet. She wanted… she wanted… what did she want? What even was she? Just a scared little girl who had no idea what she wanted out of life and whose stepfather was using as a punching bag. She was a pathetic little human who had no purpose. But she didn’t have to be. She didn’t have to be normal. Who would want that? Normal sucked. Normal hurt. She had a choice to make. Was she going to stay in the cupboard under the stairs or was she going to do what the tall man asked? What a lame story it would be if she told that tall man “no”.

“Okay,” she nodded.

“Okay,” he repeated.

“Are we doing this or what?” Luka asked, more annoyed than impatient.

Mackenzie sat back down at the table and gave her hands to Jonas. She hadn’t noticed the candles all over the place but she jumped when they all lit up suddenly. She shivered when she felt the same weird sensation as before run through her body again. But that sensation changed, it became stronger, hotter, almost painful. She watched, scared and worried, as Jonas closed his eyes and focused. She could feel the tension in the room, something had changed. Maybe it was the air, maybe it became drier. She started to hear Jonas make incomprehensible mumbles. She winced as she felt what seemed to be electricity run through her veins. It was bearable at first, but it quickly became more painful. She gasped when her feet suddenly felt extremely cold. The ice moved up to her legs and seized her entire body. She cried out when the ice turned to flames. A strong wind appeared inside the room and with it came loud voices only Mackenzie could hear. She felt hot and cold at the same time. The tap suddenly turn itself on and water started to fall into the kitchen sink. She could feel everything. She could feel the water in the sink, the plant at the other side of the room, the natural heat of the warlocks’ body, the cold of Elijah’s, the electricity in the walls and in the air, she could feel the magic, the powerful magic Jonas was using, Luka’s own magic and even the magic that had kept and that was keeping Elijah alive and, above all, her own magic. It was so loud in the room, she didn’t realize right away the screams she was hearing were hers. It hurt so much she couldn’t tell if she felt none of it or all of it.

Elijah watched carefully as the elemental was crying out of pain. He wondered how long it was going to last. Not much longer, he hoped, for her sake. The candles were burning hotter in the room and it looked like the tap was about to explode. The windows were shaking dangerously too under the strong wind. But there was one thing he could sense that the others couldn’t. It was a smell. A delicious, appealing, delectable, appetizing smell. An irresistible smell. And it was coming from her. And it drove him crazy.

“What are you doing?” Elijah asked in a threatening tone as Mackenzie’s screams were becoming louder.

“It’s almost done,” Jonas managed to reply, out of breath.

Tears were falling on Mackenzie’s cheeks as the pain only grew unbearable. The wind knocked over vases, moved books, broke windows. The sink was overflowing with water. The candles were burning out. And then, suddenly, it all stopped.

Everything froze. As if there were no air left. No sound. Nothing. Jonas and Mackenzie weren’t moving, her hands still in his. His eyes were still closed, as if he had gone somewhere and hadn’t made it back yet. Suddenly, after a few seconds of emptiness, the warlock jumped from his chair and stepped back until his back bumped against the fridge.

“What is it?” Elijah asked.

Mackenzie suddenly gasped her way back to consciousness. She fell off her chair and found herself on her hands and knees, panting on the wooden floor.

“She’s… she’s an ultimate,” Jonas breathed out as Elijah made his way to the elemental.

“What does that mean?” the vampire asked.

When Mackenzie felt his hands on her she pushed him away. She was panicked, confused and lost, she wanted to scream but she couldn’t do anything else but cry. Elijah took her by the wrists and pulled her towards him. She wasn’t capable of resisting because she had no idea what was happening. He sat on the floor and brought her to his chest. He couldn’t help but feel guilty as her cries filled the room.

“Dad, what’s an ultimate?” Luka asked. He was as clueless as the Original vampire.

“An abomination, a thief!” he yelled. “That’s what she is, just like her ancestors were!”

“Calm down, Jonas,” Elijah commanded. “The spell, it concealed her smell, it protected her from vampires and werewolves. Is there a way to hide it again, maybe with another spell?”

“An elemental’s blood is powerful, nothing you can do about it,” Jonas replied.

“There has to be a way. I’m sure all the vampires in this town can already smell her from here,” he exaggerated.

“It doesn’t look like it’s bothering you too much.”

“Well, it is. Find a solution,” he ordered. “Now.” There was no distress in his voice, no anger either. He sounded calm, he appeared calm, but on the inside, it was a hard battle to fight.

Jonas grumbled something and rolled his eyes. He gestured his son to help him and they started to look for a particular book. Elijah stood up with Mackenzie in his arms and made his way to the couch where he laid her down. He squatted in front of her and brushed her hair away from her wet cheek.

“How are you feeling?”

She didn’t answer. She looked away as she brought her knees to her chest. She had no answer to give him. She had no idea how she was feeling because she was feeling everything. She could still hear the voices in her head but she couldn’t comprehend them. Nothing made sense.

She fell asleep on the couch, exhausted both mentally and physically. She slept for over an hour during which Jonas and Luka looked unsuccessfully for a way to conceal her smell.

“Is it really that bad?” Luka asked.

“Yes,” he sighed. “Keep looking.”

“She’s waking up,” Jonas said.

The Original vampire made his way back to the couch and sat in the armchair near the elemental. It was one of the hardest thing he had ever done. It was hard for him to think about anything else, to feel anything else than the thirst. Mackenzie slowly sat up, devastated to find herself back in that apartment, she had hoped it had only been a very painful nightmare.

“How are you feeling?” Elijah asked again, hoping to get an answer this time.

“I… I don’t know…” she answered as she put her feet on the floor. She tried to get up but her legs were too weak. “What… happened?”

“The spell was concealing your true nature and stopping you from using your powers. It’s not the case anymore,” Jonas replied.

“So… that’s why I… I never knew, never… felt that way before?”

“Yes,” Elijah nodded. “And how exactly are you feeling?”

“I… I don’t know how to explain.”

She could feel everything that was around her. The electricity in the air, the air itself, the water in the warlocks’ mortal bodies, in the pipes in the walls, in the still wet sink… She could feel the magic of it all, as if she could touch it. She felt different. She felt as if she had woken up in a different body than hers.

“So, what’s an ultimate?” Elijah asked for what he hoped was the last time.

Mackenzie looked up at Jonas, unsurprised this time by the horrible look he gave her. He sat on the other armchair across Elijah, at Mackenzie’s right.

“As you know, witches and elementals have always been enemies.”

“Why?” she asked, cutting Jonas off.

“Because we’re servants of nature,” he snarled at her. “And you…”

“Witches have always been jealous of your powers,” Elijah cut him off.

“That’s not…” Jonas started to say but Elijah gave him a look and he stopped.

“Humans worshipped elementals,” Elijah explained. “They gave you names like mermaid, fairy, elf, angel… But witches were feared and persecuted, that’s why they came after your kind. Witches are the reason why elementals are extinct.”

“We were just defending ourselves,” Jonas grumbled.

“ _We_ weren’t there, dad.”

“Elementals went into hiding,” Elijah continued. “When I was born, your kind was already gone.”

“Apparently not,” Jonas disagreed.

“So, what’s an ultimate?” Luka asked.

“There used to be five main families of elementals. The Alemaunds, the Dallimores, the Fays, the Hayes and the Engelbrechts. The Alemaunds were the leaders of all elementals. Avery Alemaund was a mad man. In an attempt to save his kind, he… experimented. His goal was to create the perfect elemental.”

“Someone who would control all four elements,” Elijah said.

“No. He believed there were eight elements, including ice, electricity, light and darkness. He took the most powerful witches of his time hostage and forced them to give his children all eight elements. Of course they couldn’t, because they didn’t exist.”

“I was told they did exist,” Elijah said. “I was told Avery managed to create such a creature.”

“They didn’t exist. Never had an elemental controlled ice or electricity. Those powers were… legends, stories, nobody believed they existed. Nobody except Avery. But the witches knew if they didn’t give him what he wanted, he would kill them and their family. So they made a new kind of elementals. Ultimates. With the ability to control all eight elements. But there was a trap.”

“What trap?” Mackenzie asked. She was on the edge of her seat.

“They had no idea how to create the elements of light and darkness, they didn’t know what Avery imagined them to be. So, they made witchcraft the element of light. Giving Avery’s children the powers of a witch.”

“So… ultimates are… elementals _and_ witches?”

Jonas sighed, obviously unhappy with her conclusion. “You could say that…”

“What did they do for the element of darkness?” Elijah asked.

“Nobody really knows,” Jonas answered. “What we do know, though, is that Avery’s children went mad, just like their father. Supposedly, that was the end of the Alemaunds. Supposedly, the element of darkness killed them.”

“I’m gonna die?” Mackenzie asked in a trembling voice.

Maybe that was the reason why her mother never said anything. Maybe that was the reason for the spell. Because who she was was going to kill her.

“No,” Elijah quickly told her. “You’re here, it means Avery’s children, or at least one of them, survived. So did their children and their children. These are old stories, they can’t be a hundred percent accurate.”

“That’s true,” Jonas nodded. “But what do you think the element of darkness is? It doesn’t sound like anything good to me.”

“It’s also possible it doesn’t exist,” Elijah said. “I was told the only thing the witches did was give Avery’s children the gift of witchcraft. Nothing about ice or light or darkness.”

“Ask her,” Jonas said, tilting his head towards Mackenzie. “If I felt it, she felt it too.”

“He’s right,” Mackenzie said as she looked up at the vampire. “I can feel it… the cold… the electricity… I…” she paused and shook her head as she looked down at the floor. She couldn’t explain it. “I don’t know about light or darkness though…” she finished. How could she even tell?

Elijah nodded.

“Are you okay?” she asked. She could see he was uncomfortable, almost in pain, and she didn’t understand why.

“There’s another thing we need to talk about,” he said.

“What you want from me,” she nodded.

“Before that. Remember earlier, when I said I was told elementals smelled… better than you did?”

“Yeah…?” she said with a small voice, expecting the worse.

“Well, the spell was concealing it. Now, it… it’s stronger.”

“Wha- what do you mean?” she asked, even though she knew exactly what he meant.

“I mean, your smell is ‘better’ now. More…”

“What he’s trying to say is he wants to eat you,” Luka cut him off and received a threatening look from the Original vampire.

“What I’m trying to say is we have to find a way for you to… not smell like that.”

She understood now why he looked so uncomfortable. He was trying to resist the appeal of her blood. He tried his best not to show it, but it was extremely difficult.

“Can we do that?” she asked. She hoped it was possible, or else she wasn’t going to live a very long life in Mystic Falls.

“We don’t know yet,” Elijah told her. Fear once again seized the teenager. “But we’re looking,” he continued.

“This was a bad idea,” she breathed out as she brought a hand to her face.

“You’ll be fine,” Elijah said, though he didn’t believe it himself.

“So, what exactly do you want from me?” she finally asked. She felt like she deserved to know why she had been through all of this.

“Ah,” he said as if he had been waiting for that moment. “As I said, I had my suspicions about what you were capable of. I was told that the Alemaunds were stronger than usual elementals and witches. Apparently I was right. You see, I have a plan to take down Klaus. During the sacrifice, there will be a brief moment during which he will be vulnerable enough to allow me to kill him. But I need you to weaken him first.”

“ _During_ the sacrifice? You mean… the sacrifice needs to happen?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“But… Elena! You said…”

“Elena will be safe,” he assured her.

She gave him a suspicious look. That sounded to her like Elena was going to die and that wasn’t what he had promised. He told her she was going to be able to help her, to save her life, not to let her get sacrificed.

“I promise,” he insisted but it didn’t convince her. “As long as Klaus is alive, Elena will never be safe.”

Mackenzie took a deep breath. She was too tired to think straight. All she had just heard was crazy and unbelievable and yet, it was the truth. She wanted this day to be over already. She wanted to go home and sleep for the rest of the week.

“How am I going to… How am I supposed to help you? I don’t know how to use my powers.”

“Jonas and Luka will teach you.”

Mackenzie was surprised that they would agree to that. But then, she remembered they were just like her. They had something to get out of this.

“Or we could just do it ourselves,” Jonas said. “We told you there was no need to bring her into this. We’re powerful enough to take down Klaus.”

“You told me you weren’t sure. She’s more powerful than you.”

“She has no idea what she’s doing! I can’t guarantee she’ll be ready in time. In fact, I can guarantee she won’t be. It’s my daughter’s life we’re talking about here, Elijah. Let me do this!”

“You told me an elemental could do it,” Elijah reminded him.

“Yes, an elemental. A real one, who’s been practicing their entire life, not a… a scared little girl who’s got no idea what she can do or how to do it! Trust me, you’d have more chance of success with the Bennett girl than with her.”

Elijah sighed. He hated wasting his time.

“Klaus isn’t here yet, and the next full moon is in a month. That gives us at least one month to get her ready. You’ll teach her whatever you can, Jonas,” Elijah ordered. “When Klaus arrives, we’ll decide then what to do and who does it.”

Like Mackenzie, Jonas had no choice. She wasn’t comfortable with the idea of having Elena’s life and Jonas’ daughter’s in her small and weak hands. But she actually looked forward to figure out what she was capable of, even if her teacher hated her.

“You’ll start tomorrow,” Elijah told them. “And you’ll keep looking for a way to conceal her smell too.”

Mackenzie wondered how bad it was. Was every vampire in town waiting for her outside the building to drink her dry? Was it safe to even leave? Were werewolves dangerous even without a full moon? She wondered how she let it happen. How was it possible that she was in more danger at that moment than she was when she woke up that morning?

She knew the answer; she played the game wrong, and she had been stupid instead of brave.

 

***

 

Elijah insisted on driving her home. He couldn’t take the risk of her getting hurt, she supposed. The sun was setting and turned the sky orange. Mackenzie could feel it all. The power of the coming night, the power of the twilight, the magic in the wind, she could feel the power of the clouds above her, of the trees around her, of the water in the ground. It should be overwhelming, but it wasn’t. The lack of pain surprised her. It was calm. The power was slowly running in her veins like waves in a tranquil sea. It was almost soothing.

The drive was silent. Even though Mackenzie still had a billion questions, she didn’t feel like getting more answers just yet. She had to take in all the information she had just been given first.

“Are you okay?” Elijah asked and startled her as he spoke up.

She was lost in her thoughts and hadn’t noticed she was in front of her house.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “It’s been a long day.” _Another one._

“Yes. I’m afraid it won’t get any better, unfortunately.”

She nodded. “I know…” Every vampire and werewolf in town were coming after her, she wasn’t going to be safe until they found a way to conceal the smell of her blood.

They exited the car and Elijah walked with her to the front door.

“Maybe I should let Jonas and Luka… ‘take care’ of Klaus. They know what they’re doing.”

“This is my only shot at killing him. I won’t have any other opportunity, ever. If you’re more powerful than Jonas and Luka, then you have to do it.”

“But… I don’t know how.”

“They’ll teach you how.”

“I… you look certain I can do this…”

“Are you doubting your powers? Or are you having second thoughts about killing someone?”

“I…” she paused. Of course he wouldn’t have second thoughts about killing someone, but Mackenzie did have a problem with it. “Both…”

“Think of it this way. You’re the most powerful creature I’ve ever met, which means you’re stronger than Klaus. And Klaus has killed countless of innocent people in a thousand years. Elena will never be safe as long as he’s alive.”

“Killing is wrong.”

“It is,” he nodded. “But this is the right thing to do.”

Mackenzie didn’t reply.

“You disagree.”

“I want to help Elena. And I will, if I can…”

“But?”

“But this isn’t who I am,” she said in a broken whisper. “I’m not… strong.”

“Ah,” he said, as if he understood something she didn’t. “Well, who says you can’t be?”

He had a point. She was her only limit. She had been hearing all day long she was the strongest person that had ever lived, she was even stronger than him.

“Are you going to kill me once Klaus is dead?” she asked and the lack of fear in her voice surprised both of them.

“Why would I do that?” he asked, obviously confused.

“Because if I can kill Klaus, then I can kill you.”

Elijah chuckled. “True. But I don’t think you will.”

“Why not?”

“Because killing is wrong, remember?”

“Trevor wasn’t a danger to you and you killed him anyway.”

“Trevor betrayed me.”

“So he had it coming?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head and looked away.

“We disagree on a few things,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to kill you. Besides, I promised I would never harm you,” he reminded her. He took her chin between his fingers and made her look up at him. “But I understand why you wouldn’t trust me.”

Once again, she got lost in his eyes. She wondered how hard it was for him at that moment to resist her blood. If it was as hard as he said, she couldn’t see it. She couldn’t look away. As soon as she’ll step inside the house she would have to face Robert and his look filled with hatred and disgust.

“I’ll leave you now,” he said. “Good evening, Miss Alemaund.”

“Goodbye, Elijah.”

She watched as he walked away and disappeared in a second. She didn’t enter the house right away. She was in no hurry to. She could already hear Robert yelling, asking her where she was and not liking the answer. She would rather stay outside, where she could feel the magic in the air. The unfamiliar sensation made her feel safe. But she knew she couldn’t stay there, where any vampire could find her. The longer she made Robert wait, the worst it would be. She took a deep breath as she placed her hand on the handle and gulped as she opened the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Next chapter will be posted in January!


	5. Lonely Creature

Mackenzie was lying in her bed, painfully crying in her pillows, trying to keep quiet. Everything hurt. It was hard to breathe. She could barely keep her face buried in the pillows now stained with blood, but she knew she couldn’t make any noise, she couldn’t take the risk to wake him up. The pain in her arm was so awful she was afraid to move. It was broken, she was certain, the noise she heard when Robert twisted it still sent shivers down her spine.

How ironic was it? She was (supposedly) the most powerful creature on the planet but she was still incapable of defending herself. And if she couldn’t defend herself against a drunk human, she didn’t stand a chance against a vampire. It wasn’t ironic, it was just stupid.

Incapable of sleeping, Mackenzie couldn’t help but replay the fight in her head. She flinched and winced every time she pictured his fists approaching her face, every time she heard him yell, blaming her for his bad day, his inexistent love life, his stupid bosses… It wasn’t a first for Mackenzie and she had been through worse. But something was different that night. When he started yelling and she knew it was going to end badly, the lights started to flicker. She knew she was tampering with the electricity of the house, she could feel it even though she couldn’t control it. When he punched her the first time, the lights went out for a few seconds. It didn’t stop him. He was either too drunk or to eager to take his anger out on her to notice. When she ended up on her hands and knees, blood and tears dripping from her face, it went dark for over a minute during which he blindly started to kick her, hitting her stomach and chest several times. At this point, the house started to shake. Again, he didn’t notice, but she could feel it despite the enormous amount of pain she was in. When the lights came back, he seized her by her left arm, forced her to get back up and broke her forearm. She screamed in agony as he contorted her arm and as the pain only grew unbearable by the second the bottles of beer scattered around the kitchen burst out. He let go of her then, as the loud noise of the many pieces of glass suddenly caught his attention. He was too drunk to even try and make sense of it. But at least he wasn’t angry anymore, he was just confused and tired. “Clean this up,” he growled, before he stepped into the living room and slumped on the couch. She quickly, and painfully, did as he asked, trying to be as silent as possible. She almost passed out in the stairs on her way to her bedroom. It wasn’t often bad like that, but every other month Robert had a crappy day at work, there wasn’t enough beer in the fridge – or there was too much – dinner wasn’t ready or wasn’t to his taste, or Mackenzie dared answer his question or dared keep quiet and all of it combined turned him mad and turned her face into mush.

It hurt even in her sleep. She wasn’t really sleeping but she wasn’t awake either. She would be even more tired when she woke up the next morning. But even in her half-sleeping state, Mackenzie could dream. Those were usually the worst dreams. The ones in which she knew she was dreaming but there was nothing she could do about it, even if there weren’t scary dreams. But this night, it was more than that. It didn’t feel like a dream. It was something else, something new, something that felt somewhat even more uncomfortable. The settings of the “dream” felt familiar but Mackenzie didn’t recognize them.

_It was a big white living room. The walls were white, so was the wooden floor covered by a clear blue carpet on which were scattered toys. The white French window on the right was open and the large windows on its sides allowed the sunlight to shine in the room. There was a woman standing there. Mackenzie recognized her, of course. She was a short young woman in her thirties. She had beautiful blonde hair, amazing blue eyes and a bright smile on her face. She had her back turned to the white and clean fireplace and she bent over to pick up a book from the square coffee table. It looked really old and heavy, a little like the books that were scattered around Jonas and Luka’s apartment._

_“Mackie! Come here, honey!” Aella called._

_Mackenzie saw a young version of herself running around the house with a doll in her hand. The Barbie had long blonde hair and a pair of pink wings matching her short green dress. It looked new, and the four-year-old was fond of her new toy. The house was big. Too big for a single mother with her only child and certainly too big for an unemployed woman._

_“Finish the story, mommy!” the little girl begged, holding out her arms._

_Aella picked up her daughter and sat on the white couch near the window. She settled between the clear blue pillows as she placed her child on her lap._

_“Where were we?” she asked._

_“The mermaids were playing with the men and they fell off the boat!”_

_“No, honey, the sirens did.”_

_“What’s the difference, mommy?”_

_“I told you the difference, honey. Remember? What’s the difference between a mermaid and a siren?”_

_“I don’t know,” Mackenzie pouted, suddenly bored, deciding to focus on her doll._

_The sunlight slowly disappeared and the room started to fade away, gradually vanishing into complete darkness._

_“What’s the difference, Mackenzie? What’s the difference between a mermaid and a siren? Remember Mackenzie. It’s important you remember!”_

The “dream” ended there but Mackenzie didn’t wake up. The question was echoing endlessly in her tired mind, unanswered.

She hadn’t bothered to set up an alarm as she was in no hurry to make breakfast for Robert with her broken arm. She would have to look for her old splint, she had no intention of going to the hospital, that would do more harm than good. At least, that was what she told herself. She woke up when she heard him enter the bathroom. She wasn’t feeling like getting out of bed. She wasn’t going to go to school anyway, not in her current state. It was extremely hard to apply makeup with only one hand and she doubted she could even hide her broken face, it was swollen, she could feel the pain. She was going to stay in bed for a few days. With a little luck she’ll starve to death, she hoped, and for a second, she meant it.

She listened as he took a shower, then walked down the stairs then had breakfast. She wondered if he was mad he had to do it himself, she wondered if he had any idea how badly she was hurt, if he even remembered what he did, if he even realized it. She flinched, then winced, when he slammed the door and made the house shake. She listened as he got into his car and drove away.

Silence could be a blessing, but it could also be a curse. At that moment, Mackenzie didn’t know how to feel about the silence. About the loneliness. Sometimes, she liked it. She didn’t have to explain to anyone why she didn’t show up to school because nobody cared. But sometimes, it was bad. She wished she had someone, anyone, to talk to, to help her, to protect her. Because she couldn’t protect herself. That was something she had learnt quickly after her mother’s passing. To use Robert’s words, she was a “worthless piece of shit, an unwanted inconvenience, and a crybaby.”

She fell back to sleep quickly after Robert left. But a half an hour later, she jolted awake as someone came knocking on her front door. She was groggy, both from the pain and exhaustion, and it took her a while to sit up. She wondered who it could be. She had no intention of answering the door, not with that face. But whoever was on her porch was insisting. They knocked once every minute. After four minutes had passed, the knocks became stronger and louder, as if the visitor was worried by the lack of answer, as if they knew she was inside the house.

She took a deep breath. What if it was a vampire? What if they were attracted to her blood, what if they could smell her from very far away? She decided to take a peek outside her window but there was nothing unusual in the streets. No unknown car, nobody. But, as she was standing by the window, she started to feel it. Him. His power. She knew exactly who it was and a knot started to form in her stomach. What could she do? Could she scream from her window for him to go away? That wouldn’t work. And if he really wanted to enter, he would break in, a door wouldn’t stop an Original vampire, would it?

She felt weak. She couldn’t stay on her feet for long, she would feel dizzy and pass out. She walked back to her bed and sat on the edge. She tried to think clearly, to find a solution. How could she answer him and not show her face? Simple. She couldn’t. She didn’t know why she cared about him finding out. Surely, he couldn’t care less about her wellbeing. She just didn’t want anyone to know, and she was already weak enough to his eyes.

She took another deep breath, tried to hide her face behind her hair, before she walked out of her room. Merely breathing hurt, walking was even more painful. She carefully held her injured arm with her right hand. She slowly and painfully walked down the stairs. She figured he could smell her approaching because as soon as her bare feet touched the cold tiles he started to talk.

“I know you’re here,” he said.

To her surprise, he didn’t sound angry or impatient. Maybe a little curious and… worried? But she couldn’t trust her judgement, not in the state she was in. She tried one last time to adjust her hair, but she had no illusion, she knew she couldn’t hide. She gulped as she put her hand on the handle. She opened it slowly, slightly at first, looking down in an attempt to hide. He could barely see her face. Looking down at her, he saw she was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Only thing that had changed, something she hadn’t even thought about, was the blood on her shirt.

“What happened?”

“What are you doing here?” she asked in a weak and trembling voice, looking away, hiding behind the barely opened door.

“What’s wrong?” he insisted, wondering why she was suddenly so scared of him.

“Nothing,” she answered in an emotionless tone. “What do you want?”

“I thought I’d come by and advise you not to leave your house today. Obviously, you’re not going anywhere…”

“I’ll stay here,” she nodded.

“What happened?” he asked again, knowing something was wrong. “Why is there blood on your shirt?”

She didn’t answer. He watched as she looked down to see what he was talking about.

“I had a nose bleed,” she lied in a whisper.

“What have you been up to all night? You haven’t changed.”

Mackenzie could try and come up with all the lame excuses but she knew Elijah was a smart man who wouldn’t believe any of it.

“Look at me,” he said.

She looked away, clinging to the wall as she tried not to lose her balance. She was starting to get really dizzy and she really needed to sit down.

“I’m tired. I’m just gonna sleep all day,” she told him with a broken voice.

“Look at me,” he repeated. “Invite me in.”

She shook her head, but quickly regretted it as it made her even more dizzy.

“I’m fine,” she lied, “I just need to sleep.”

“What happened to your face?” he asked with an angry tone as he noticed a few anomalies through her thin brown hair.

“Nothing,” she quickly said.

She wanted nothing more than to shut the door but figured he could kick it open if he really wanted to enter. She didn’t have time to think of a better solution as he grabbed the part of her hand that had slid on the door frame and pulled her towards him. She cried out as she fell into his arms, then cried out again when he touched her injured arm. He seized her by the upper arms, strong enough for her not to move but not strong enough to hurt her. Her hair finally out of her face, he could see it all. Her red broken nose, her red and swollen eyes, her cut and bloody lips. Her entire face was covered with blood and tears. Her wet eyes were looking away and he realized she wasn’t trembling with fear, but with pain and maybe shame.

“What happened to you?” he asked, completely baffled and horrified.

When he left her the night before, she was completely safe. But now, he could see old and black bruises behind the fading makeup, her mascara had run down onto her cheeks, she could barely breathe through her nose and he wouldn’t be surprised if her cheekbones were broken. She broke down then and there, falling under her weak legs. Elijah caught her before she could reach the ground.

“I’m sorry,” she cried as she clung to his arms.

“Why are you sorry?” he whispered as he steadied her in his arms.

She didn’t reply, she buried her face in his chest as she cried, wept, sobbed, and whimpered. She couldn’t help it, she couldn’t stop it, she couldn’t even realize it, she just needed to do it.

“Invite me in,” he asked gently, in a soothing voice. “Vampires can’t enter your home without your invitation. Invite me in and let me heal you.”

A few sobs and sniffed later she slightly moved away and looked up, giving him a confused look, though her broken face made it hard to tell what look she had.

“My blood will heal you,” he said. “Invite me in.”

Confused, but too upset to make sense of things, she nodded, sobbed and sniffed a few times more before she managed to say the words:

“Co- come i-in.”

The second she said it, he scooped her in his arms and entered the house, vampire speed. The door slammed shut as he turned to his left and found the living room. He settled her on the couch. He sat next to her, examining her face she was trying to hide. He decided to let her calm down, he’ll ask questions later. He looked around and noticed the empty bottles of beer laying around the room. If only the disgusting smell of beer could conceal the delicious smell of her blood. It was stronger and harder to fight now that it was on her face and on her clothes.

“Your father did this to you?”

“Stepfather,” she quickly corrected him before she could stop herself.

“It’s not the first time, is it?”

She sniffed as she shook her head. She was looking away, trying to hide behind her hair. He moved closer to her, put his hands on her waist and lifted her effortlessly to place her on his lap. She winced when he accidentally put pressure on the bruises. She tried to move away but he kept his left arm around her body and pulled her to his chest.

“My blood will heal you,” he said before he bit his wrist.

She watched, confused, as his bleeding wrist approached her face. She pushed it away.

“It’ll take away the pain,” he whispered.

She hesitated, staring at the bleeding wound that was closing fast. He slowly moved his wrist closer to her face and she reluctantly let him. She put her hand on his arm as she started to drink from him. As she drank, she slowly leaned back against him and closed her eyes. He rested his chin on the top of her head, breathing in the delectable smell of her blood. The silence soothed her. She felt at peace, she didn’t want to move.

She could feel his power running down her throat. It was hot and powerful. The pain gradually went away, first in her face, then in her arm. Once the pain was completely gone, she used her now healed hand to push his wrist away. She blushed when she realized the position she was in. She licked her lips as she got off his lap and sat back on the couch.

“Feeling better?”

“Much better, thank you,” she shyly replied.

The truth was; she felt amazing. The pain was completely gone, vanished, eradicated. Her arm and her nose weren’t broken anymore. Her face, though still sticky with blood, wasn’t hurting, just like that. All it took was vampire blood. Maybe, she thought, maybe there were some perks of being a vampire. She felt so grateful towards Elijah whose first instinct was to heal her and take away the pain. It was an unfamiliar gesture she didn’t know how to feel about.

“Bathroom?” he suddenly asked, surprising her even more.

“Upstairs,” she replied as she pointed at the ceiling.

“Come on,” he said as he got up and held his hand out to her.

She frowned, wondering what he wanted to do, but took his hand anyway. As they walked, Mackenzie wondered why she hadn’t been told about the “vampires can’t enter without invitation” thing. It would have helped her sleep a little better at night.

“Do you need anything?” she asked as she led him to her bedroom and pointed at the bathroom door.

He didn’t answer. He made his way to the other room and gestured her to follow him. She watched him as he looked around and she wished he would just tell her what he needed. Finally, he found the cupboard where she kept the towels and the cloths. He took one of each before he turned around to face the sink.

“What ar-,” she started to say but she didn’t get the chance to finish as he lifted her off her feet and sat her down on the counter.

He turned the tap and passed the cloth under the water.

“I can do that myself,” she told him.

“Mmh.”

She looked away as he started to clean her face. Washing dry blood off the skin was a complicated task. They stayed quiet for a moment. Elijah wanted to make her feel safe. She needed it. She needed to be taken care of, for once. But Mackenzie could only feel shame and he saw it on her face.

“I would have helped you if you had asked,” he spoke up.

“Oh,” is all she could say.

“Did you think I wouldn’t help?”

She shrugged. “It didn’t even cross my mind to ask,” she admitted.

“How long has this be going on?”

She didn’t reply right away.

“A couple of years,” she said in a whisper, as if she were ashamed.

“You didn’t tell anyone. Why not?”

She looked down at her hands and shrugged.

“I was afraid, I… I didn’t want to make it worse and I… I didn’t want to be a crybaby…”

He stopped, making her look up. The look he gave her, a mix of pity and sympathy, made her feel even more ashamed and she looked back down. He placed his knuckle under her chin and lifted her head back up to make her look at him.

“You’re not a crybaby, Mackenzie,” he said. “This is real. Being afraid is the rational response to have. I’d be surprised if you had acted any differently. Your life isn’t easy, crueler than most. You get to cry once in a while. It doesn’t make you weak. On the contrary. It makes you human.”

“But I’m not human, am I?” she retorted.

“That’s not what I meant,” he replied as he brought the wet cloth back on her face.

She knew what he meant. Even though she was an elemental she was still more human than he was, he was a monster, that was how he considered himself, she could see it on his face as he said it, and she wasn’t sure she could disagree. But at that moment, he wasn’t a monster, at that moment he was human, showing sympathy and kindness. He didn’t hesitate for a second. As soon as he saw her face he had to heal her, there was nothing else to do. No time to ask questions, he had to enter and help her. He hadn’t showed any sign of anger towards her, nothing he did made her feel threatened. And yet, every time she looked at him, she remembered Trevor and his headless body lying in a pool of his own blood. Was she stupid enough to believe he actually cared? To her, it was more probable that he just needed her to be okay long enough to kill Klaus. After that, if he didn’t kill her, he would lose all interest in her wellbeing. But, at that moment, he looked like he cared, at least a little. He was taking care of her like no one had in years. Maybe that was why she wanted it to be true, because she needed it to be real.

“Is this real?” she asked suddenly, breaking the silence, making him stop again.

“Is what real?”

“You. Being nice to me,” she replied in a weak voice. “Are you just using me or… or can I really trust you?”

Elijah sighed. It shouldn’t surprise him anymore that she had trust issues. And even if she didn’t, he would admit it was smart not to trust him. He brushed the sticky hair away from her face and found her hazel eyes searching for his, looking for the truth. She was hoping it was real.

“You can trust me,” he said before he resumed his task.

They stayed quiet as he finished to wash the blood off her face. She didn’t look away from him. She was looking for something, anything that would make her believe he wasn’t lying.

“You’re staring,” he eventually said.

She blushed as she looked away.

“Doesn’t it bother you? The blood?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

Suddenly, he froze. As if she had just reminded him of something.

“What’s wrong?” she asked when she saw his face.

He frowned. He slowly leaned forward and she stiffened when she felt his nose in her neck.

“Well,” he said, and she shivered when she felt his breath on her neck. “My blood changed your smell.”

“It did?” she asked, completely confused.

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s good news,” he smiled.

“I can leave the house,” she realized. “Thank you,” she breathed out, relieved.

“No need to thank me. It won’t last.”

“How long?”

“Twenty-four hours. Two days, maybe?”

“Oh…”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault,” she whispered.

“I’ll make sure to give you my blood when you need it.”

“You don’t have to do that!”

“I know. I don’t have to do anything,” he told her as he cleaned the last stain of blood from her face.

He put the wet bloody cloth in the sink before he handed her the towel.

“Thank you…”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m… I… I’ve been better,” she admitted as she got off the counter. “But I’ve been worse. Thank you for helping me. For giving me your blood. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Do you think I’d walk away and leave you like that?” he asked, and she could see he was offended.

She looked away, suddenly intimidated. Angering people didn’t exactly go well for her.

“I didn’t mean to insult you, I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized out of habit. It was a reflex, a last attempt to calm down the man standing in front of her to escape his anger.

Elijah saw her demeanor quickly change. She looked down at her feet, tried to make herself smaller as her entire body trembled with fear, expecting something terrible to happen.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he calmly told her. “I promised to never harm you, remember?” he said as if he were talking to a child.

“I really didn’t mean to offend you,” she added, too scared to look up.

“I know,” he nodded as he cupped her cheek.

The sudden and unexpected gentle touch surprised her. She flinched, awaiting pain, but when it never came, she looked up. She had never seen a look like the one he was giving her at that moment. But then, she had never met anyone like him. Her life only had one person in it and that person was Robert. For two years, she was alone and lonely, nobody to talk to, nothing to say anyway. But now, she remembered what it felt like to be taken care of, to have someone to talk to, to feel safe. She didn’t care if it wasn’t real, she didn’t even want to think about it, she chose to trust him because she needed to. Because he was there and she needed someone at that moment. Because he gave her what she needed even though she didn’t know she needed it.

She put her hand over his before she stepped forward and buried her face in his chest. Surprised, he didn’t hug her back right away. Eventually, he put one hand on her back and another in her hair and rested his chin on the top of her head. He felt her hands shyly travel from his chest to his back as she settled into his arms.

“I could really use a friend,” she said. She sounded exhausted, both physically and mentally.

“Me too, actually,” he smiled.

His answer made her chuckle.

“Thank you, Elijah.”


	6. Villains and Heroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there,
> 
> I'm having issues with my laptop which prevents me from not only posting but also from writing. I should have a new laptop in March/April, hopefully, but I'm not sure - that's why this was posted late.  
> I should be posting the next chapter sometimes next week, probably before Friday.  
> Chapter 8 might take a while though, so expect a somewhat lengthy break.  
> Sorry for the inconvenience - I hope you like this anyway -
> 
> Enjoy!

Mackenzie needed a shower. After everything that had happened, she really needed to feel clean again. She took her time, trying to relax, trying to think, trying to put herself back together so that once she was ready to come out, she would know what to do.

She stepped out of the steamy bathroom wearing a pair of black leggings and an old white tank top. She put her damp hair in a bun as she stepped back inside her bedroom. Elijah was still there, standing near the old vanity, his hands in his pockets, looking out the window. He turned around when she came out and watched her as she started to take the sheets off of her bed. He had noticed the bloody pillows and he would be lying if he said the smell didn’t bother him. She stayed silent and avoided eye contact, and he knew exactly why.

“Did you think about what I said?”

She froze for half a second before she resumed her task, ignoring him.

“Do you need more time to think about it?”

Mackenzie threw the sheets on the floor and ignored him. She gathered the dirty laundry and carried them out of the bedroom. Elijah waited for a minute before she came back with clean sheets. He watched in silence as she made her bed.

“I don’t want you to kill him,” she finally replied, focusing on the pillowcase.

Her answer didn’t surprise him.

“Don’t you think he deserves to die?”

She froze again. The mere thought made her feel guilty because she didn’t say “no” when he asked the first time.

“It’s not up to me.”

“It is, though.”

She raised her head, finally looking up at him.

“It’s not right.”

“What he did to you wasn’t right either.”

She shivered at the thought. After two years of abuse, two years of physical and psychological torture, she finally had an opportunity to take him down. She had the option to never see him again, so why wasn’t she taking it?

“I don’t want you to kill him,” she repeated.

“Very well, then,” he sighed. “I’ll just compel him.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, as she brought her attention back on the pillowcase.

“You need to rest now. You’ll need your energy if you’re going to practice magic later today.”

“I’m not tired,” she lied.

“I don’t believe you.”

“You said you’d answer my questions.”

“And I will. But you need to sleep first.”

Mackenzie sighed and rolled her eyes. Friends or not, trustworthy or not, she was still surprised that he cared about her wellbeing, and she didn’t know if it was because nobody had cared about it in years, or if it was because he was a thousand-year-old Original vampire who surely had better things to do than babysit her. She grabbed the duvet cover but before she could even start to put it on the comforter, Elijah took it from her and in the next two seconds her bed was perfectly made.

“Sleep,” he said as he pointed at the bed.

He was standing across from her, at the other side of the bed, waiting for her to do as he asked.

“I said, ‘I’m not tired.’”

“And I said, ‘I don’t believe you’. I’ll answer your questions, I promise. But right now you need to rest.”

“I don’t want to sleep.”

“Why not?” he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Mackenzie looked away, embarrassed.

“Don’t you have better things to do than babysit me?”

“Not today, no.”

She sighed. Her silence and obvious discomfort gave him the answer.

“How bad are they, the nightmares?”

Surprised for a short moment, Mackenzie rolled her eyes again as she sat down on the bed, her back facing him.

“It depends,” she whispered with a shrug.

Elijah sighed. He considered what to do for a brief moment. He then sat on the edge of the bed, took his shoes off, and leaned his back against the wall.

“Lie down.”

She turned her head and saw him at the other end of the bed. Knowing he wasn’t going to let it go, she did as he asked. He watched her as she rested her head on one of the pillows and laid down as far away from him as she could.

“Ask a question,” he told her.

Taken by surprise, Mackenzie had to sort out all of her questions and pick only one. It took her a few seconds to decide which one she could safely ask without upsetting him in any way.

“Yesterday you said you had a thousand years to get strong.”

He nodded. “I was born a little over a thousand years ago.”

She wasn’t as surprised as she should have been but she thought he would be older. After all, he was one of the oldest vampires in the world, one of the firsts, she didn’t expect him to be so… “young”.

“How many Originals are there?”

Elijah suddenly looked away. A knot started to form in her stomach when she saw the look on his face. She hadn’t expected the question to bother him so much.

“You don’t have to answer,” she quickly added, trying to stay out of trouble.

“I do, actually. We made a deal,” he reminded her.

He sighed. It was clear it was a sensitive subject.

“There used to be five of us.”

“Used to be?”

“Yes,” he said, and she thought she recognized sadness in his voice.

“Are they… dead? I thought you couldn’t die…”

“We can’t. There’s a weapon, a silver dagger Klaus used to stab them in the heart. The only way to bring them back is to remove the dagger. But Klaus scattered their bodies across the seas. They’re lost forever.”

“They were your friends,” she guessed as she saw how downhearted he was.

“They were my siblings,” he whispered.

Mackenzie immediately sat up. She thought she had misheard.

“Your… your siblings?”

“Yes,” he said, as he looked back at her. “Klaus is my brother. He hunted my family down and took them from me.”

Confused and in disbelief, she stared at him as if they were more answers on his face. But all she could see was how vulnerable he was at that moment, opening up to her, the way she had just opened up to him.

“Elijah, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

He brought his lips together and shrugged.

“You are not to blame,” he replied.

“That’s why you want to kill Klaus. You want revenge.”

“Yes. I owe it to my family to make him pay for what he did.”

“Are you sure he threw them into the sea?” she asked, making him frown. “I mean… They were his siblings too. Surely…”

Elijah smiled. It was a sad and yet peaceful smile.

“I like being in your company, Mackenzie. Your innocence is refreshing. But do not doubt Klaus is a soulless monster who doesn’t care about anyone but himself, not even about his own family.”

She looked down, trying to find something to say, knowing perfectly there was nothing she could tell him that would make the situation any better.

“So, Klaus is… he’s as old as you?”

“I’m his older brother,” he nodded. “But we are the first vampires.”

“How did you…”

“Become vampires?” he finished for her and she nodded. “It’s a long story,” he sighed. “Should I tell you the whole story?”

“Uh… you… it’s your life,” she said. “You don’t have to tell me anything.”

“Well, it’s more of a horror story than a bedtime story but… I suppose you could use the information.”

He unbuttoned his jacket and took it off, laying it at the end of the bed. Mackenzie laid down next to him, apprehensive.

“My father was a wealthy landowner in a village in Eastern Europe. My mother bore seven children.”

“So, your family was human?”

“Yes. Though, my mother was a witch.”

“Wh- what?”

“She’s the one who told me about elementals in the first place. My mother was a very powerful witch, she hated your kind. I never understood why, even as a child…”

“But… if she was a witch… doesn’t that make you…”

“No,” he cut her off. “Witches are servants of nature, vampires are abominations of nature, you can either be one or the other, never both.”

“But… you used to be a witch?”

“I never really took an interest in magic. Unlike my brothers, Finn and Kol.”

“So, you had six siblings? But you said there were only five Originals.”

“My parents’ first born died from the plague. In order to protect their future family from the same fate, they moved away. They arrived here, to what became Mystic Falls eight centuries later.”

He said it with a smile, knowing he was going to enjoy Mackenzie’s reaction. And he did. The elemental immediately sat up, a baffled look on her face which quickly changed into confusion then skepticism.

“That’s not possible,” she said with a frown. “This part of the world hadn’t been discovered yet!”

Elijah chuckled. “Not that you’d know. My mother knew a witch, Ayana, who heard from the spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy, blessed by the gifts of speed and strength. That led my parents here, where they lived in peace for twenty years, during which they had more children. Including me.”

“You were born here?” she breathed out.

He nodded. “So were my brothers and my sister, Klaus, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik. I hav- had… an older brother, Finn.”

“The one who died?”

“No, Finn was my parents’ second child.”

“But… that leaves six of you.”

“Yes… The gifted people we lived with were werewolves,” he started to say and Mackenzie could see on his face he was getting to the bad part. “One full moon, Niklaus and Henrik went to watch them turn. That was forbidden. Henrik…” he paused, looking away.

“He died…” she finished for him in a whisper.

“Yes,” he nodded. “That was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbors. My father begged my mother to find a way to protect us. He wanted us to be better than werewolves, stronger, faster… immortal.”

“She turned you to protect you…” she breathed out.

“Yes… She didn’t know…” he stopped and scoffed. “She didn’t know we would become… well, what we became.”

“’Wha-, you mean… she didn’t turn?”

“No. She did it for us.”

“She must have been really powerful, I mean… she created a… a new species!”

“She was,” he nodded. “She used the sun for life and an ancient white oak tree, one of nature’s eternal objects for immortality. That night, my father offered us wine mixed with blood… then killed us.”

“You- your father killed you?”

“He did. He was happy to do it… When we came back to life we had to drink more blood to complete the transition. But, there were consequences. The spirits turned on us. For weeks we were stuck inside, it was impossible for us to stand in the sun. My mother found a solution,” he said, showing her the ring he wore on his left middle finger. It might have been made of gold, Mackenzie couldn’t tell, but there was a blue stone in the middle, maybe made out of lapis lazuli. “Daylight rings. The same magic your friends the Salvatores and Miss Forbes use, I imagine.”

“They’re not my friends.”

“Right,” he chuckled. “They were other problems. We could no longer enter homes without being invited, the flowers at the base of the white oak tree, vervain, burnt and prevented compulsion. And the spell decreed that the tree that gave us life could also take it away. So we burnt it to the ground. But the darkest consequence was something my parents never anticipated. The hunger for blood.”

“She didn’t mean to turn you into vampires. She wanted you to be safe, to never die.”

“Everybody makes mistakes,” he scoffed. “It wasn’t her first…”

“What do you mean?”

“Miss Gilbert and her friends believe Niklaus wants to break the Sun and the Moon Curse.”

“That’s not true?”

“He wants to break a curse, but not that one. That one… doesn’t exist.”

“Wha- what do you mean, it doesn’t exist? Elena has to die to break it.”

“Niklaus and I faked the Sun and the Moon Curse a long time ago. We made it so vampires believed that if they broke the curse themselves they will be able to walk in the sun. But if a werewolf breaks it, then they wouldn’t have to turn at the full moon anymore,” he said, leaving Mackenzie speechless, “We were looking for the moonstone and the doppelganger. We figured that the best way to find them was to send two different species after them.”

“But… if the Sun and the Moon Curse is fake… what do you need Elena for?”

“There is a curse Niklaus wants to break. It’s a curse placed on him. You see… My brother and my father didn’t get along well. When Niklaus made his first kill as a vampire, we found out the truth. Niklaus wasn’t my father’s son. My mother had been unfaithful many years before, Klaus was from a different bloodline. Of course, when my father discovered this, he hunted down and killed my mother’s lover and his entire family, igniting a war between the species that rages until this day.”

“A war between species…”

“The vampires… and the werewolves.”

“I- I don’t understand…”

“Niklaus’ father was a werewolf. When he killed for the first time he triggered his werewolf curse. But a hybrid would be deadlier than a vampire or a werewolf so my mother saw to it that my brother’s werewolf side would become dormant. Klaus wants to trigger that part of him that’s a werewolf. If that happens, Niklaus would sire his own bloodline, he’d build his own race, endangering not only vampires… but everyone.”

“Wait, wait,” she stopped him. “So, a werewolf will only turn at the full moon if they’ve killed someone?” she asked and he nodded. “And… you helped Klaus fake the Sun and the Moon Curse? Why?”

“I helped him because I loved him. That’s changed now. He must die.”

“Okay,” she nodded, understanding how he felt, “but… you burnt the tree that could kill you. How are your siblings dead?”

“Well, the witches would never stand for such an imbalance, every creature on this earth must have a weakness, so they created silver daggers. Combined with the ashes of the white oak tree, once stabbed in the heart with them, we will die. Once the dagger is removed, we will come back.”

“So, you can’t die ‘die’. But... why can’t you use the dagger against Klaus?”

“When a werewolf is wounded by silver it heals. The daggers won’t work. There’s one way to kill any supernatural species, at the hands of the servants of nature themselves. If they can channel that much power. The Martins have a spell that could allow them to do so, but with you… I believe we stand a better chance.”

“Me?” she repeated, staring at him like he was crazy.

She got off the bed and started pacing in her room.

“You… I… ‘channel that much power’… I can’t even… I don’t even…”

She jumped, startled, when he was suddenly in front of her.

“Calm down.”

“You can’t expect me to be powerful enough to do that! I have no idea how to do… anything!”

“Jonas will teach you. I’m confident you will be ready in time.”

“What if… what if I’m not?” she breathed out with tears in her eyes.

He stopped her, put both his hands on her shoulders and made her look up at him.

“You’re an elemental, an ultimate, you’re more powerful than my mother ever was. You will be ready in time. You can do this. You have to.”

She didn’t know why he had such confidence in her. Maybe it was because failing wasn’t an option. If Klaus became a hybrid then many people would die and they couldn’t let that happen. Elijah was right. She had to do it. She had to do it for Elena.

“So what about the sacrifice?” she asked, then sniffed. “How are you gonna keep Elena safe?”

“I have a potion I had made five centuries ago for Katerina. If Elena drinks it, she’ll die but will come back to life.”

“You… you tried to save Katherine’s life?”

“Yes,” he nodded, and it was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Does Elena know? About the potion?”

“She doesn’t have all the details, no.”

“But does she know she has to do the sacrifice? That she has to die?”

“She does. Miss Gilbert is truly remarkable, she doesn’t want anyone to die for her. She’s quite the opposite of her ancestor…”

“Why… why don’t you want Elena to know… all of this?”

He sighed. “I’m not sure they deserve to know, yet.”

“But I do?”

“What I’m asking from you is…” he stopped, then shook his head, “yes, you deserve to know why you’re doing what you’re doing.”

Mackenzie shook her head, but then nodded.

“You don’t trust them.”

“I doubt they trust me. I’m sure they’re looking for a way to get rid of me as we speak.”

“Elena wouldn’t do that.”

“How would you know? You’re not friends.”

“I just… she wouldn’t...”

“I would agree with you. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for her friends, the Salvatores. Especially Damon.”

“I’ve never met Damon.”

“Lucky you,” he chuckled.

“I, uh…” she paused, then looked down. This wasn’t going to be easy to ask. “Elena said that Stefan didn’t drink human blood…”

“I’m not surprised,” he nodded.

“What about… Damon? What about…”

“Me?” he cut her off and she nodded. “Well, we’re vampires. We need to feed, one way or another.”

“But Stefan… how does he do it?”

“He lives in the middle of the forest, doesn’t he?” Elijah shrugged. “As for the rest of us, blood bags are a decent solution, not that we only feed from those.”

“So…” she cleared her throat. “You kill people…”

“Not necessarily. We can drink from someone without killing them. But yes, we kill people, but you already knew that.”

Yes. Yes, she did already know that. And she didn’t want to be reminded of it.

“Let’s talk about something else,” she said before she made her way back to her bed.

“You should rest, now. You’ll need your strength to practice magic later today.”

Mackenzie sighed as she sat down. She was tired, she couldn’t deny it, but she was afraid of the nightmares, and after the conversation she just had, she was bound to have some.

“Please,” he insisted. “After what happened last night I’m sure you could use a few hours of sleep.”

“Can we please just keep talking? I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep if I’m alone…”

Elijah sighed. He walked towards her and gestured her to lie down. She moved so he could sit next to her. She was so small her feet didn’t even reach the jacket that was at the end of the bed.

“You’re not alone,” he said as he moved to lean against the wall.

“I’m sure you have better things to do then watch me sleep…”

He frowned. “Not really,” he said, as if it were a surprise to him too.

She laid down on the side, facing him.

“You don’t have to take care of me. I’ve been fine on my own for two years.”

“Obviously not,” he said and it sounded meaner than he intended it to be. “I believe you could use the company. So could I. But if you want me to leave then I won’t stay any longer.”

He moved to get up but Mackenzie immediately put her hand on his to stop him.

“Wait… Don’t go.”

She could see he was surprised but all he saw in her eyes was a plea. She wasn’t scared of him, for once, she was scared of being alone.

“Very well.”

She relaxed when he positioned himself back on the bed. She took a deep breath before she settled her head between the pillows and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. The silence wasn’t so scary with Elijah sitting right next to her. She focused on his breathing, it soothed her. The situation she was in didn’t even surprise her. Elijah wasn’t a big bad vampire anymore but her friend. The one and only person she could count on. Someone who was keeping her secret just like she was keeping his. Someone she could trust. She hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I hope you liked it!
> 
> Please, let me know what you think!


	7. Undead

When Mackenzie woke up, she felt lazy. She didn’t want to get out of bed. It was the first time in two years since she felt like sleeping late was a possible option for her. There was nothing to worry about. For the second time this week she didn’t have to hurry to make Robert’s breakfast. She didn’t even have to worry about him. Elijah had compelled him to ignore her completely. It’s not that he wasn’t allowed to talk to her, he just couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t even look at her.

She was exhausted. Practicing magic was the hardest thing she ever had to do. It was so easy and yet so hard. It was like learning how to walk all over again, and she was just a baby at this stage. Within the last two days she had met with Jonas twice. Twice now the warlock had forced her to stare at a dead plant for hours, asking her to revive it. But to no end. It was frustrating.

As much as she would have loved to stay in her bed, she knew she couldn’t. Elijah was picking her up early this morning. They were going to look for a witch burial ground where witches had been massacred centuries ago. Elijah said Jonas would need the power if he would be the one who were to face Klaus, and that they would probably need the extra power anyways. He also said they might find it faster as she would be able to feel the magic from the site. Moreover, it had been over 24h now. She needed Elijah’s blood again to cover the strong smell of her own.

She got up and took a shower. She made sure Robert was gone before she walked down the stairs. Even though she knew he couldn’t hurt her anymore, she couldn’t help but be uncomfortable in his presence. Scared, even. It was Saturday, which meant he would either stay home all day or go meet his friends and/or colleagues somewhere. Seeing as his car wasn’t there when she looked out the window of her room, she guessed it was the second option.

She had just finished cleaning up the kitchen when Elijah knocked on her door. He was wearing a suit, as always. Mackenzie never dared ask why, she liked the mystery. She liked to believe he was just that old-fashioned.

“Hey,” she said as she gave him a small smile. “Come in.”

“Good morning, Ms. Alemaund,” he smiled back at her as he stepped inside her home.

“So, how is it?” she asked, a little bit nervous, as she closed the door.

“Not bad,” he said. “But still strong.”

“Can I leave my house like this?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “But I’m afraid you won’t be able to on Monday.”

“So, you’re coming back on Monday, then?”

“Yes. I have to take you to Jonas anyway” he told her. “Are you ready? We don’t want to make Ms. Sommers wait.”

***

Jenna was a little surprised by Mackenzie’s presence. Elijah explained to her that Mackenzie was curious about his research and he agreed that she accompany them.

“I hope that’s not an issue,” Elijah said.

“Oh, not at all!” the redhead replied. “The more the merrier,” she chuckled, a little bit nervously.

Mackenzie’s presence didn’t change her plans. She had the maps Elijah had asked for and she happily told him everything he wanted to know as they walked through the property lines.

“The old Fell property actually starts just beyond that fence,” she said as she pointed towards what she was mentioning.

“Ah, the Fells,” Elijah chuckled. “One of the founding families.”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“My research showed me that this area was actually settled almost two centuries earlier. There was a migration of towns folks from the Northeast. Salem to be precise.”

“Massachusetts? As in the witch trials?” Jenna asked.

Elijah nodded. “Which means the ever-lauded founding families didn’t actually found anything.”

Mackenzie couldn’t help but let out a discreet laugh only Elijah heard, which made him smile, though she didn’t see it as she was looking at the ground.

It also made Jenna chuckle: “Well, I bet it was the men who made a big deal about being founders back in 1860. Men are very territorial.”

“Yes, they are,” he sighed.

His tone made Mackenzie look up out of curiosity. She followed their gaze and saw Alaric Saltzman coming their way. He was walking with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. Both Mackenzie and Elijah knew he was probably here because he was worried about Jenna. As for Elena’s aunt, she was clearly surprised.

“Uh… Elijah, this is my, uh, friend, Alaric Saltzman.”

“Yeah, I got your message about walking Elijah through the property lines. I thought I would tag along. You know, being a history buff and all,” he chuckled. He gave a weird look to Mackenzie. He had no idea what she was doing there. He was surprised to see her standing so close to Elijah. He would have thought she would have preferred to be anywhere else but near the Original vampire. “What about you, Mackenzie, are you helping Jenna?”

“I…”

“She’s with me,” Elijah cut her off. “She’s interested in my research,” he said with an amused smile.

Alaric frowned, obviously confused.

“Well, you do like history,” he said, unconvinced. He couldn’t be fooled. Something strange was happening, but he couldn’t figure out what. He knew he hadn’t compelled her as Elena had mentioned she couldn’t be compelled for some reason. Whatever the reason she had to spend time with Elijah, he imagined it couldn’t be anything good. “Well,” he cleared his throat, “where to next?”

“I’m pretty curious about the freed slave property owners,” Elijah replied. “Some say the descendants of the slaves are the true keepers of American history.”

“Well, I only brought the surveys. I’ve got that list in my car, just give me a sec,” Jenna said before she walked away, leaving the three “history buffs” alone.

Alaric watched her walk away and Elijah made sure she was far enough for her not to hear them before he spoke up.

“Alaric Saltzman. You’re one of those people on Elena’s list of loved ones to protect.”

“Yeah, so is Jenna,” he reminded him, “and Mackenzie.”

“You don’t have to be worried, Ms. Alemaund is in no danger with me,” he assured the vampire hunter.

Alaric frowned as he held Elijah’s gaze for a few seconds before his eyes fell on his student.

“Are you okay, Mackenzie?”

“I’m fine,” she quickly replied with a smile she wanted to be reassuring.

“What are you doing here?”

“I…” she started but stopped as she had no idea what to tell him. Elijah was looking at her with an amused smile, curious of what she was going to say. “I’m just… helping.”

“Helping who do what?”

“Helping… Elijah with his research…” she said in a whisper her professor almost couldn’t hear.

He looked at her with a weird look on his face, confused as to why she would say such an obvious and terrible lie.

“Are you okay?” he asked, not bothering to hide his concern.

“I’m fine, Professor Saltzman,” she told him again, “I really am.”

He frowned again, trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe, because Elijah was an Original he could compel other supernatural creatures normal vampires couldn’t. He would have to keep a very close eye on her.

“Ric!” Jenna called from the car, “could you give me a hand?”

“Yeah!” he waved at her to reply. He gave one last look to Mackenzie, then another one to Elijah, before he turned around and left.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Elijah mocked.

“Hey,” she complained as she playfully pushed him.

Alaric was even more confused when he turned around and saw both of them laughing.

***

Sitting at a table in the crowded and loud Mystic Grill, Alaric, Damon and his girlfriend, Andie Star, were talking about the weird encounter the history professor had had that morning.

“Other than your lecture on Mystic Falls, did you get anything out of Elijah?” Damon asked.

“No, it was boring,” Alaric sighed, “Though I suspect he’s able to compel supernatural creatures, unlike you.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Remember Mackenzie?”

“Who?”

“Mackenzie? The girl that Rose kidnapped with Elena?”

“Oh yeah, the kid that smells like candy, what about her?”

“She was there.”

“What do you mean ‘She was there’?”

“She was there, this morning,” Alaric repeated, “with Elijah.”

Damon frowned. “What was she doing there?”

“I have no idea. When I asked her she said she was helping him with his research.”

“Oh yeah, she’s definitely compelled,” Damon agreed. “The kid was traumatized, she passed out when we found her.”

“Didn’t you say Elijah compelled Katherine to stay in the tomb?” Andie asked her “boyfriend”.

“Yeah, he did.”

“So, if he can compel vampires…”

“He can compel other supernatural creatures,” Damon sighed. “Which means it’s time for Bon-Bon to drink that vervain tea we’ve all been on.”

“It also means he broke the deal,” Alaric added before he stopped. “Maybe we shouldn’t… talk about this here?” he said, eyeing Andie.

“Don’t worry about Andie. She’s been compelled not to divulge my secrets, haven’t you?” he said as he put his arm around her shoulders.

“Mmhmm, my lips are sealed,” she said before she kissed him.

“This is too weird,” Alaric sighed with slight disgust as he looked away.

“I just need the right opportunity,” Damon thought out loud.

The vampire looked up from the table as Jenna, Elijah and Mackenzie entered the Grill.

“Ah. There’s Jenna with her new boyfriend,” he joked to tease his friend.

Alaric took a look and rolled his eyes as he saw them approach.

“Hi,” Damon waved at them.

“Hey, guys,” Jenna waved back with a big smile.

Elijah politely smiled at them as he approached the table with Mackenzie. She knew this could end very badly considering Damon wasn’t a fan of Elijah.

“So, I hear you all had quite a meeting of historical minds,” Damon said.

Mackenzie shivered when his eyes landed on her. He gave her a weird smile as he looked her up and down, which made her feel self-conscious. She quickly looked up at Elijah who was staring at the vampire with an amused smile.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Jenna smiled at the eldest Salvatore brother.

“Well,” Alaric sighed as he got up, “As much as I’d like to continue this, I’ve got papers to grade.”

“Well, you know what,” Andie said, stopping him from leaving, “We should continue this. Let’s have a dinner party.”

“Ooh, my girl! Full of good ideas! I’ll be happy to host,” Damon said with a smirk. “Say, tonight, maybe?”

“Yeah, tonight works for me,” Andie agreed.

“Well, you know what, tonight’s not gonna wo…”

“I’ll be there,” Jenna stopped Alaric, who rolled his eyes again, now forced into going to a dinner party he had no wish to attend.

Damon was holding Elijah’s gaze with a proud smirk. The Original vampire wasn’t impressed by the staged invitation of the vampire’s compelled girlfriend. It wasn’t a very original tactic.

“It would be a pleasure,” Elijah shrugged and smiled. “What do you say Mackenzie?”

“Uh, um, I don’t think I was invited,” she chuckled nervously, taken by surprise by the invitation. It was obviously “adults only”.

“I’m sure she has better things to do on a Saturday night than hang out with her history professor,” Alaric said, hoping Mackenzie wouldn’t be present at the dinner. He didn’t know what Damon was plotting but it was nothing good.

“Actually, I promised her I’d walk her through some details of my research and I feel bad for cancelling our plans,” Elijah said. “So, if you don’t mind…” he asked Damon.

The vampire forced a smile on his face. “Not at all! The more the merrier.”

“Great,” Elijah smiled. “We will see you tonight.”

***

“Why do you want me there tonight?” Mackenzie asked the Original vampire as they walked up the stairs to Jonas’ apartment.

“Because Damon doesn’t.”

“You think he’s planning something?”

“Oh, he most definitely is,” he said. “And I’ll feel better with you there,” he joked.

“Don’t make fun of me,” she rolled her eyes which made him chuckle. “I have a bad feeling about tonight, do I really have to go?”

“You don’t have to, no…” he replied, but he really wanted her to come. He wanted her to see what Damon could do. Maybe it was because he wanted her to stop seeing him as “the bad guy” and see that the world wasn’t black or white, that there was no “good guy” in this story, that Damon and his brother weren’t better than him.

“But you’d like me to…” Mackenzie guessed.

“I would.”

She sighed. They stopped in front of Jonas’ front door and Elijah was about to knock when she stopped him.

“I’ll come under one condition,” she told him. She saw he was surprised she was negotiating with him. He nodded. “No one is getting hurt tonight, no matter what happens.”

She could see he was annoyed by her request.

“That might not be up to me,” he said. “If Damon does anything…”

“Then you’ll stop him,” she cut him off, “but you won’t…” she stopped. “You won’t hurt him.”

Elijah stayed silent as he considered it. He wondered for a second why Damon mattered to her, but it occurred to him she probably would have asked the exact same thing for anyone else. Mackenzie stared at him expectedly.

“Fine,” he finally agreed.

“You promise?”

He sighed. “I promise.”

***

Practice had been as awful as the day before and the day before that. Nothing happened, which made Mackenzie feel even more useless than usual. She was angry at herself for not making it work. “It’s in you” is what Jonas said. So why couldn’t she make it work? Why couldn’t she revive that dead plant whose dead power she could still feel? It was right in front of her, the tools were in her, they were in the air, they were in the plant itself and yet, she hadn’t been able to do anything. Nothing at all.

Elijah could see she was beating herself up about it. She was sitting on the passenger seat of his car, in her dark red dress and black ballerina shoes, staring at her hands, lost deep in her dark thoughts.

“You’ll get it soon,” he said, getting her attention. “Nobody said it was going to be easy.”

“True… But nobody said it was going to be this hard.”

Even though Elijah had agreed to answer all her questions, Mackenzie couldn’t bring herself to ask them. At first, he wondered if it were because she was still wary of him, but then he started to think that she wasn’t probably used to talking to someone, to anyone, about anything. He tried to start a conversation a few times, but she always replied with short answers, killing the conversation mercilessly, though he knew she wasn’t doing it on purpose. So they drove in silence to the Salvatore’s house, or as Mackenzie saw it, to the big obvious trap.

***

Mackenzie took a deep breath as Elijah knocked on the door of the Salvatore’s boarding house. She was convinced this wasn’t going to end well. For anyone.

The door opened to a smiling Damon. He seemed to be in a good mood, he didn’t look worried or scared at all. Elijah took this as arrogance, but it scared Mackenzie. She still had that bad feeling from earlier, and Damon had the look of someone who knew something his “enemy” didn’t.

“Good evening,” Elijah smiled back.

“Thank you for coming. Please, come in.”

“Just one moment,” Elijah said, putting his hand on the frame of the door. “Can I just say that if you have less-than-honorable intentions about how this evening is going to proceed, I suggest you reconsider.”

Mackenzie looked up at him, then at Damon, curious to see his reaction.

Damon nodded. “No, nothing dishonorable. Just, uh, getting to know you,” he said with a smile. And not a sincere one. It’s like he wasn’t even trying to be convincing.

Mackenzie’s bad feeling wasn’t going away, it was actually getting stronger and it almost hurt her stomach.

“Mm, that’s good,” Elijah replied as he stepped inside the house, followed by Mackenzie.

“Elijah, Mackenzie!” Jenna called as she saw them enter. “It’s good to see you,” she smiled at them.

“You too Jenna, you look incredible,” Elijah smiled back.

“Why, thank you,” she grinned. “Damon, I need help with the oven, I have no idea how to make it work.”

“What makes you think I do?” Damon joked.

“I’ll help,” Mackenzie volunteered, eager to be in human company.

“You know how to cook?” Jenna asked.

“Yeah.”

Elijah watched Mackenzie walk away as Damon closed the front door. When they were finally alone in the hall, Elijah took the opportunity to make himself clearer.

“You know, although Elena and I have this deal, if you so much as make a move to cross me I’ll kill you and I’ll kill everyone in this house. Are we clear?”

Damon frowned. “Crystal,” the vampire said after a few seconds, as seriously as the Original vampire had ever seen him. “Speaking of deal…” he continued, “Mackenzie is on Elena’s list of people you’re supposed to protect. I think compelling the kid to be your little pet isn’t exactly ‘protecting’ her.”

Elijah raised an eyebrow then let out a small laugh.

“And what do you care about Ms. Alemaund?”

“Oh, I don’t,” Damon shrugged. “But Elena does.”

“Ah yes, I’m sure she does,” Elijah said sarcastically. “But see, I am a man of my word. I make a deal, I keep a deal. I haven’t compelled her, I can’t. She’s not human.”

“You think I’m gonna believe that?”

“You believe whatever you want to believe, Damon.”

“You can compel vampires, I’m sure a witch is no problem to you.”

“I am an Original vampire. I can compel vampires, I could compel you if I wanted to, but witches, I’m afraid, are out of my reach.”

Damon stared at him in silence, trying to figure out if he could believe him or not.

“So, I’m supposed to believe the kid is willingly following you everywhere for no reason?”

“Her reasons are her own,” Elijah said in a tone which made it clear to the eldest Salvatore that he was getting annoyed by his interrogation, “if you want to know them I suggest you ask her, not me.”

“Will do,” Damon nodded. “Will do.”

***

Mackenzie felt out of place sitting at the dinner table among the adults. The adults who were composed of two vampires, one vampire hunter, a compelled fake girlfriend, an oblivious human and whatever John Gilbert was. Luckily for the elemental, nobody was paying attention to her, and it was easy for her to make herself invisible. She helped Jenna in the kitchen as Elena’s aunt was a terrible cook.

Dinner went well. As well as it could have. Mackenzie assumed that creepy conversations were bound to happen while having dinner with hundreds of year old vampires. She enjoyed the break before dessert during which Damon and Elijah had left to another room to have a drink. When they came back, Jenna was serving coffee, but dessert wasn’t on the table.

“Sorry, guys,” she said. “Dessert is taking longer than I thought. I usually just unwrap food,” she chuckled.

“I’ll help you.”

“Oh, no, Mackenzie stay, it’s fine! You’ve done enough, you deserve a break,” Jenna told her before she left the room.

So, there she was again, sitting at the table with Elijah and John. She was sitting at the vampire’s left and the empty seat next to her belonged to her history professor who hadn’t come back yet. When she looked around, she noticed Damon was not in the room either.

“So,” Andie said as she sat across Elijah. “I know this is a social thing, but I’d really love to ask you some questions about the work you’re doing.”

“I’d love to answer,” Elijah nodded.

“Great. Oh, that’s so great! Ric!” she called as the professor stepped in the room with Damon, “would you do me a favor and grab the notebook out of my bag?”

“Sure.”

“Elijah,” Damon started as he sat back down, “did John tell you he’s Elena’s uncle slash father?” Damon asked with an amused smirk.

“Yes, I’m well aware of that.”

“What?” Mackenzie breathed out. She thought she had heard it all but that one was new to her.

“Of course, she hates him,” Damon continued, completely ignoring the elemental. “So, there’s absolutely no need to keep him on the endangered species list.”

Mackenzie looked at Damon, then at John, who didn’t look too reassured.

“Ric, it’s in the front pocket, on the… You know what? Excuse me, guys, sorry,” Andie said as she got up to find her notebook herself.

“Now, Mackenzie, is it?” Damon asked the teenager. She was taken by surprise as she had been ignored by the vampire the entire evening. She shyly nodded. “What I would like to know is why you’re following the big bad vampire who scared you to death two weeks ago like a loyal little puppy?”

Mackenzie was speechless. She stared at the vampire with big eyes, incapable of answering him. She would have happily told him it was none of his business if she hadn’t been certain he’d kill her for it.

“Unless, you can’t tell me?” he continued.

“That’s enough,” Elijah stopped him.

“You’re the one who told me to ask her,” Damon defended himself. “So, I’m asking. If he didn’t compel you, what are you doing here?”

“I… I…” she stuttered, but she didn’t even have time to think of an answer as Andie came back with her notebook and her own questions.

“Okay. My first question is, when you got to Mystic Falls…”

But the journalist didn’t have time to finish as Elijah suddenly screamed in pain. It startled Mackenzie who shrieked and jumped on her chair before she saw her history professor had stabbed Elijah in the back. Damon and John got up, neither of them startled by the not so sudden scream of agony coming from the Original vampire. Andie was taken by surprise though, and watched with horror as the thousand year old immortal turned grey.

“What are you doing?!” Mackenzie shouted.

She watched helplessly as Elijah took his last breaths. As he struggled to breathe, so did she. Her eyes grew big as his skin slowly lost its lively colors. Seconds turned to hours as his pain never seemed to come to an end. When he was finally dead, Alaric pulled the dagger out of the vampire’s back and his lifeless body fell to the ground.

“What did you do?” Mackenzie repeated in a whisper as she slowly slid off her chair to kneel by her friend’s body.

Her heart was beating fast in her chest, her body was shaking, still in shock of what had just happened. She didn’t notice the lights flickering in the room. She looked at Elijah’s now grey skin for a few seconds, getting used to the idea that her immortal friend was now dead. She then looked up at her history professor who was holding a silver dagger in his hand. She frowned as she remembered Elijah’s words from a few days before: _“The witches created silver daggers. Once stabbed in the heart with them, we will die. Once the dagger is removed, we will come back.”_ She unknowingly let out a breath of relief when it hit her. Elijah might be dead for now, but he would come back. Just like he came back after Damon killed him the first time in the old house, because he couldn’t be killed. Because he couldn’t die.

A wave of anger took over her. The fact that he stabbed him in the back is what made her so angry. As she stared at the dagger in silence, the light bulbs in the room all exploded, leaving the few candles around as only source of light. She felt it in her even though she didn’t do it on purpose.

“What the hell?” Damon said as he looked around.

She closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath and focus as to not break any more objects. But she could still feel the magic. She could always feel it. It was everywhere. She could feel it in the air, in Damon’s body, in Alaric’s ring and even in Elijah. Just like she could feel the magic from the dead plant at Jonas’, she could feel it from Elijah’s dead body.

Alaric put the dagger down on the table before he said: “Now get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert.”

Mackenzie let out a shaky breath. What should she do? She had to do something, but what? There was no way she could stop them from taking Elijah and she had no idea when he would come back to life. She didn’t know what they were planning to do with him while he was unconscious, and she couldn’t take the risk of letting them take him. He needed to come back now.

Jonas’ words echoed in her head: _“Time killed that plant, but magic can revive it. Use your magic. You have it in you.”_

Mackenzie quickly seized Elijah’s wrist and transferred her magic to him. She had no idea what she was doing but she hoped that she was doing it right.

“What are you doing?” she heard John Gilbert ask.

She had no intention to reply, she just hoped she could finish whatever she was doing before they stopped her.

“Mackenzie?” she heard Alaric call her name, but she didn’t reply, she kept focusing. Because even though she didn’t know what was happening, she knew she needed to do something.

She knew all along this was a trap. She thought Elijah knew too, but he obviously underestimated them, just like she underestimated her professor. She expected something like this from Damon but not from Alaric. Elijah had explained to her that Damon was a troublemaker that would make their task more difficult than it needed to be. But she hadn’t expected this. Elijah had made it clear he couldn’t die nor could he be hurt. Mackenzie knew Damon was going to try something but she had no idea he actually had the means to succeed. Luckily for her, and for Elijah, he didn’t have all the information.

“That’s enough,” Damon mumbled.

He moved, vampire speed, to where Mackenzie was. He seized her and trapped her in his arms, making sure to cover her mouth so that her screams wouldn’t alert Jenna. But as he did so, Elijah gasped his way back to consciousness and got up from the ground, with the same supernatural speed.

He took a painful deep breath before he said in a threatening tone: “Let her go.”

“How are you alive?” was Damon’s only answer.

Elijah then proceeded to seize the vampire hunter by the hair and pushed his face on the dinner table.

“I said, let – her – go.”

“You first,” Damon said, eyeing Alaric.

Mackenzie was trying to free herself from the vampire’s arms, but he was too strong, and the more she moved, the more it hurt. She decided, in a last attempt, to follow her instinct and trust that she could use her powers to defend herself. She put both of her hands on Damon’s arm and decided to use the element of fire against him. It was the power she felt was the strongest at that moment, probably because of the candles burning in the room. The vampire screamed in pain as he let her go. The elemental fell to the ground. As soon as she was free, Elijah let go of Alaric and pushed Damon against the wall.

“I should kill all of you,” he growled, pressing his arm against Damon’s throat.

“What’s stopping you?” the vampire choked.

“Elijah stop!” Mackenzie begged.

The Original vampire scowled as he looked up at the ceiling, trying to calm himself.

“You promised!” she reminded him.

“They broke the deal,” he growled.

“Elena didn’t! You made the deal with her!”

Elijah didn’t reply but he didn’t let go of Damon either.

“You promised,” she repeated in a whisper as she took a step towards him.

He sighed, closed his eyes then took a deep breath, in an attempt to compose himself.

“Yeah, buddy… you promised,” Damon managed to say despite the lack of air in his lungs.

Elijah was about to snap the vampire’s neck when he saw Mackenzie collapse in the corner of his eye.

“Mackenzie!” Alaric called as he saw her pass out.

But the elemental didn’t have time to reach the ground as Elijah caught her in time before he disappeared, running out of the house, vampire speed.

***

When Mackenzie woke up she knew she wasn’t at home. She could tell exactly where she was and who was there. She could feel it.

“She’s waking up,” Luka said.

She was lying on the Martins’ couch, in their apartment. She slowly sat up and brought a hand to her head as she did so.

“Does your head hurt?” she heard Elijah ask.

She nodded. He was sitting in the armchair in front of her, with the silver dagger in his hands.

“What happened?” she asked in a weak voice.

“You gave him too much of your magic, you passed out,” Jonas replied.

“I did it,” she breathed out. “I used my powers.”

“Yes, you did,” Elijah nodded. “But which one?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You brought him back to life,” Jonas told her. “How did you do that?”

“I did what you said,” she replied. “I used my magic. Just like you wanted me to do with the plant.”

“No,” Jonas shook his head with a severe look on his face, “you can revive a plant because you can control the element of nature. But Elijah? He was dead. The spell that turned him into a vampire a thousand years ago makes it so he can’t stay dead, but he _was_ dead. An elemental cannot bring people back to life.”

“So, you’re saying she used witchcraft?” Elijah asked.

“I don’t know what she used. I have no idea what she did or how she did it.”

“Could it be the element of light?” Luka asked.

“The element of light is witchcraft,” Jonas reminded him.

“Maybe not,” Elijah said. “Maybe that’s not all it is.”

“What do you want me to say, Elijah? I’m not an expert in ultimates. Hell, I thought they were all dead. Whatever she did, she’s the one who can tell you how she did it because I have no clue.”

Elijah sighed. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m… I’m okay.”

“Come on, I will drive you home,” he said as he got up. “Jonas, thank you for the help.”

“Like I had a choice,” the warlock mumbled.

***

Mackenzie stayed quiet in the car. She was thinking about what had happened at Damon’s house and what Jonas said. It was easy enough for her to know what element she’s using at a particular moment, she can feel it distinctively. As clear as the cold of the snow. As clear as the heat from a flame. But she couldn’t tell what element she used to bring Elijah back. It was just magic. It wasn’t an element like nature, or air. It was different. That was the part that wasn’t written in any of Jonas’ books simply because no one had ever taken the time to write about it. Ultimates were rare. Ultimates were extinct.

“Why did you help me earlier?”

Mackenzie looked up at Elijah, surprised by his question. Surprised she had no answer to give him.

“I… Why wouldn’t I help you?”

“Why would you? It was the three of them against you.”

“I didn’t know what they were going to do with you. When Alaric put the dagger on the table I… I remembered what you said about… how the dagger needs to stay in your heart. I knew you were going to come back but… I didn’t know when. I didn’t know what they were going to do next.”

“If you knew I was going to come back then why did you help me?” he asked again.

“Because….” she started to say. She thought long and hard about her answer and it was so obvious she almost couldn’t see it. “Because I could.”

Elijah didn’t reply, he didn’t know _what_ to reply. He stopped the car in front of Mackenzie’s house and looked out the window looking for Robert’s car.

“Looks like your stepfather isn’t home yet,” he said. “Because I died the compulsion went away. I’ll come back in the morning to compel him again.”

Mackenzie gulped. She was nervous to think she might encounter Robert before Elijah compelled him again.

“Okay… thank you for driving me back,” she said. “Good night, Elijah.”

“Good night, Mackenzie.”

She closed the car door and walked to her house without turning back. She heard Elijah drive away and saw he was indeed gone when she closed her front door. She hadn’t noticed the lights in the kitchen when she came in. If she had, she probably wouldn’t have been surprised to see she wasn’t alone in the house.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” she heard Robert growl behind her.

He pushed her hard and she let out a cry of pain when her head met with the wall. He seized her by the arm and turned her around to face her. Mackenzie blinked several times as she understood what was about to happen. As his fist approached her face dangerously fast, she closed her eyes and raised her hands in an attempt to protect herself.

Robert went flying to the other end of the room and she only realized what she had done when she opened her eyes, confused as to why her face wasn’t already all broken and bloody.

She breathed out, still confused about what had just happened. She stared at the motionless body of her stepfather lying in the middle of the kitchen floor, at the foot of the counter. She stared for what seemed like hours, waiting for him to get back up, but he never did. It didn’t hit her right away. It was only when she saw red liquid around Robert’s head that she realized; he was dead.

“No,” she let out in a shaky breath.

She took one step but then stopped, still afraid he would get up and finish what he had started. Finally, after a few seconds, she rushed towards him. She knelt near him and hesitantly approached her shaky right hand towards his throat, trying to find a pulse. She pressed her fingers on his vein, waiting to feel something, but she never did. She waited and waited, but she felt nothing. After what seemed like an eternity, she let out a cry of horror as tears fell down her cheeks. She felt herself falling backwards and did not realize she had pushed herself away from him.

“Oh my God,” she breathed out in a whisper she could barely hear herself. “Oh my God…”

She covered her mouth with her shaky hands as if she wanted to stop herself from screaming. She started sobbing uncontrollably as her eyes couldn’t move away from the dead man lying in front of her.

After a while of sitting there, on the cold kitchen floor in dead silence, she reached for her phone in her jacket’s pocket and dialed the only number she could at that moment. The only person she could ask help from. The only one who could give her what she needed.

It didn’t take him long to answer, in fact, it took her longer to speak up.

“Mackenzie?” she heard his voice coming from her iPhone.

She didn’t reply right away. She felt like her voice was gone.

“Elijah…” she breathed out shakily.

“What happened?” he asked with a serious tone that didn’t hide his concern.

She sniffed then let out another shaky breath.

“… Help me.”


	8. Change of Plans

Elijah arrived very quickly. When he knocked on the door, however, no one answered. He could smell blood from outside and the thought of breaking in crossed his mind for about a second. However, he decided to try and see if the door wasn’t already unlocked, which it was.  As soon as he came in, he could hear someone whispering. It didn’t take long for him to locate Mackenzie as she was the source of the incessant whispers. She didn’t react when he closed the door. He wondered if she had heard him come in and if she was just ignoring him. He wasn’t worried about the blood coming from her as he knew if it were, it would be a much stronger smell.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Mackenzie kept repeating like a broken record.

She was sitting on the kitchen floor, her knees were brought up to her chest with her arms around her legs. She was moving back and forth as she was sobbing and sniffing between whispers.

Elijah approached slowly as to not startle her. He didn’t know she was perfectly aware of his presence. She had heard him knock and even before that she had felt his presence. The magic inside of an original vampire’s body was very powerful and it was hard for an ultimate to miss.

The scene gradually revealed itself as he stepped forward. Seeing Robert’s cold body lying before Mackenzie was barely a surprise. He imagined that Robert must have been quite confused as to what had happened to him and if he attacked Mackenzie it shouldn’t surprise any of them by now that her powers would cause an accident like this.

“Mackenzie,” he said as gently as he could, the last thing he wanted to do was scare her.

But the elemental didn’t reply. She kept whispering, sobbing and sniffing as she stared at the motionless man in front of her. Elijah took another step before he squatted next to her.

“Hey.”

For the first time since he arrived, Mackenzie reacted to him. She shook her head as she frowned, not moving her eyes away from her stepfather.

“I don’t know what happened,” she whispered. “I’m sorry...”

“I know,” Elijah said as he placed his hand on her back. “It’s okay.”

“No,” she whimpered. She sounded exhausted. “It’s not okay.”

“What happened?” he asked, even though he could guess.

Mackenzie closed her eyes and more tears fell down her cheeks. She sniffed, then took a shaky breath before she wiped her wet cheeks with her hand. She suddenly looked away from Robert before she got up. She couldn’t see it anymore, she felt like she was going crazy. She didn’t want to see him ever again.

Elijah stood up too but didn’t follow her when she stepped away from the kitchen.

“I killed him,” she answered his question. “I… He was… and then I was and then… I killed him,” she repeated as she broke down in tears.

Elijah turned his head away from the young girl and towards the kitchen and looked down at the man lying at the foot of the countertop in a pool of his own blood. The vampire wasn’t bothered one second by the tragic sight. He looked up and saw there was blood in the corner of the counter.

“What happened?” he asked again as he turned to face her.

That’s when he saw the bruise on her forehead. It didn’t look like it was from a punch.

“I was…” she sniffed. “He pushed me and… I hit the wall,” she said as she pointed to the wall with her finger and brought her other hand to her aching forehead, “and then he forced me to turn around and…” she sniffed again, “he was going to punch me so… I raised my hands and that’s when… that’s when he… that’s when I…”

“You pushed him away with your powers and his head hit the corner of the kitchen counter,” he finished.

She nodded as she looked down. “Yes,” she cried. “I didn’t mean to…”

“I know,” he said.

“What am I gonna do?” she whined as she finally looked up at him.

He could see shame, despair and fear on her face. He didn’t know what to tell her. To him, this wasn’t a big deal. He would have killed him himself if she had let him. But she didn’t want him dead. She didn’t feel like he deserved death after all he did to her. So what could he tell her now? Now that she had killed him herself.

“Nothing,” Elijah replied.

She gave him a confused look before she wiped more tears off her face.

“I’m going to take care of it.”

“Wh- how?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Go upstairs, take a shower, go to bed. This will be over in the morning.”

Mackenzie frowned and gave him a puzzled and horrified look. She seemed angry.

“Over?” she repeated. “He’s dead! He’s not coming back, I killed him!” she cried. “It’s not over, I did that, and I can’t… I can’t undo it!”

“That’s okay,” Elijah told her calmly. “It was an accident. You were defending yourself.”

“But I…” she started to say, “I didn’t mean to…”

“Mackenzie,” he cut her off as he took a step forward.

She looked up at him with her big wet eyes. He put his hands on her shoulders and locked his eyes in hers.

“This isn’t your fault. This was an accident.” _And it’s not like he didn’t deserve it_ , is what he wanted to say but he knew she didn’t want to hear it. “Go to bed. You need sleep.”

“What am I gonna do?”

“I will take care of it. Don’t worry.”

She didn’t reply to him and she could see he was waiting for her to do as he asked. But she couldn’t. She knew what he was saying was right; it was an accident, but she still felt it was her fault. She also knew what he wasn’t saying, and what he was probably thinking; he deserved it. She knew Elijah wasn’t bothered by it, by his death, by her killing another human being. But it did bother her, and the mere thought of doing it again, on accident or on purpose, was killing her.

“Elijah…” she said in a shaky whisper.

“What is it?” he replied as he gently wiped the tears off her right cheek with his thumb.

“I can’t do it, I’m sorry…”

“Can’t do what?”

“Klaus… your brother… I can’t do it,” she said as she shook her head, carefully looking at his face, waiting for him to get angry.

But he didn’t. She was expecting his face to turn cold, but instead, his features softened.

“I don’t want to kill anyone else,” she cried. “I can’t use my powers, I don’t wanna use my powers…”

“It’s okay,” he cut her off as he brought her to his chest.

He placed his right hand behind her head and slid his other hand on her back, embracing her as she kept mumbling.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do it, please don’t make me do it…”

“It’s okay,” he repeated as he caressed her hair in an attempt to calm her. “I understand. Jonas will do it. It’s okay.”


	9. The Mystery Chest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long. I'm dealing with some personal issues. I don't know when I'll post chapter 10. I'm very sorry this is so short.

Despite Elijah’s best advice, Mackenzie didn’t sleep that night. She did take a shower however, and he was gone when she stepped out of the bathroom. So was Robert’s body. The blood was still on the kitchen floor and she walked back to her bedroom as she didn’t want to see it. It reminded her of what she did. She was cold in her white shorts and shirt. Her wet hair didn’t help either. She sat on her bed, feeling exhausted, and yet with no desire to sleep. When Elijah came back about two hours later, he found the elemental sitting there, in the dark and in complete silence. He wasn’t surprised. He had expected it.

“Hey,” he said, as gently as he could, but Mackenzie didn’t react. “Get up. You need to pack.”

She frowned as she looked up at him with a confused look on her face.

“You can’t stay here, it’s not safe,” he explained. “Any vampire can enter this place. Pack everything. Robert quit his job and left. He didn’t tell you where he was going. You came back home and all his things were gone. Do you understand?”

It took Mackenzie a minute to respond. “I understand,” she said as she nodded and stood up.

He gave her a minute to get dressed and then helped her pack. By sunrise, all of Robert’s things were gone. Elijah didn’t bother Mackenzie with the details but when he came back, he had a truck with him. He started loading all the boxes and, as he thought they were done, Mackenzie disappeared out of sight.

He returned to the house where he found the teenager in the attic, staring down at a big old dusty chest.

“We also need to empty this room.”

“I know,” she said so low a human wouldn’t have heard her. “It was my mother’s. For a moment I forgot it was there…”

When she stepped into the attic to continue packing, she found herself facing the old chest. It broke her heart. Whatever was inside must be all her mother’s secrets. Everything she kept from her, including who she really was. She had always been curious to know what was inside, but now, she was scared.

“What’s inside?”

“I don’t know.”

“You never opened it?”

“It’s locked. I don’t have the key.”

“I don’t need a key.”

She looked up at him and understood the silent question. She nodded. He squatted down to break the lock. He made it look like it was the easiest thing in the world. And for him, it was.

“Do you want me to open it?” he asked as he turned to see her, unsure as to what her state of mind was. He too had an idea of what might be inside. She nodded again.

Inside were a lot of things. It was filled with pieces of paper which fell out as soon as Elijah opened it. Mackenzie knelt next to her friend and picked them up.

“Is that Latin?” she asked as she tried to read them.

“Yes.”

They looked very old and had a brownish-yellow color. They looked very fragile and Elijah was careful when he too picked up one from the floor.

“This one is in German,” he said. “Early New High German.”

“Early New High German?”

“Yes, this dates back to the sixteenth century… ah,” he said when he saw the date on the paper, “February 12, 1608. It’s a Royal Pardon.”

“What? For who? And from who?”

“One of your ancestors. From… Margo of Aragon?” he said, as if it didn’t make any sense.

“Like… Catherine of Aragon?”

“Yes…”

“But… who’s Margo?”

“I have no idea.”

That in of itself was strange. Elijah knew his history. Especially because he lived through the last thousand years. He knew of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the King of Spain in the fifteenth century, and of his daughter, Catherine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII and Queen of England. But he had never heard of Margo of Aragon. He was certain she wasn’t a legitimate child of the royal family, and she was never in a position of power. Not in Spain, anyway.

“Margo of Aragon, by the power of Mother Nature and the powers invested in Her Majesty by the creatures of the Holy Forest, grants you, Tobias Julius Alemaund, immunity for all your past deeds, confessed or not confessed, and allows you to remain in the Holy Forest, until Her Majesty decides otherwise.”

“The Holy Forest? What is that?”

“I don’t know… This is an official document,” he said as he looked at the royal wax seal at the bottom of the page. He couldn’t recognize it. It had the form of an oak.

“Well… what about this one?” she asked as she handed him another paper.

“Margo of Aragon, by the power… declares you, Tobias Julius Alemaund, guilty of treason and sentences you to death,” he translated, “this dates back to December 29, 1607.”

“What did he do?”

“It doesn’t say.”

Elijah kept looking at the papers on the floor while Mackenzie took a look inside of the chest. There was an enormous book inside which she tried to take out but couldn’t as it was too heavy. Elijah helped her. She didn’t look at it right away. She put it next to her and kept looking inside the old chest. There were more books inside, none of them in English, though some might be in old English, but most of them were in Latin and in German.

“What is all that?” she wondered aloud.

“More official documents… Tobias was knighted in July 1608. He died in 1612 of old age.”

“Why did my mom have these papers?”

“She probably got them from your father. This is your family history.”

“But… why is it in German? Weren’t the Aragons from Spain?”

“They’re probably not related. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand reigned in the fifteenth century. This was a century later.”

“This is… crazy.”

“You’re getting more and more interesting each day Ms. Alemaund,” he grinned. “But as curious as I am to go through these, we need to go. We don’t want people to see us leave. They’d ask questions.”

“Oh… yeah, of course,” she nodded.

As much as she wanted him to translate everything at that moment, she knew that there would be a better time for it, and she couldn’t wait to discover more about Tobias Julius Alemaund and the Holy Forest.


	10. Feared Creature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Sorry this took so long!
> 
> Unfortunately I couldn't have it edited so there might be some mistakes here and there, beside I'm French so that doesn't help.
> 
> Hope you like it!

Elijah’s house was old fashioned, big and made of stone and wood, but had recently been renovated. It was a two-story home, obviously made for a big family, with four bathrooms and five bedrooms. Elijah explained to Mackenzie how he “convinced” the owners to take a trip around the world and leave him their house for as long as he needed it. Mackenzie wasn’t even surprised anymore, though she was relieved to hear he hadn’t killed them and buried them in their backyard. Only two bedrooms upstairs had a bathroom attached to it, and Elijah already occupied the biggest one. When they arrived very late on that Sunday night, or very early on that Monday morning, the original vampire had sent the young elemental in her new room, with a few boxes containing clothes and other necessary items, and a promise of going through her mother’s chest in the morning, after she had a good “night” of sleep. Elijah was tired himself and he could only imagine how exhausted the mortal girl was. After she reluctantly made her way to her new bed and fell asleep faster than she thought she would, Elijah finally allowed himself to do the same.

The sun was already high in the sky when Mackenzie woke up in the unfamiliar bed. The clock on the nightstand indicated the time with big red digits: 3:48PM. She turned around in the bed, rubbed her eyes then yawned as she ran a hand through her messy and greasy hair. She needed a shower. She felt defeated, despite having slept fairly well. She felt dirty, and not just because of her sticky hair. She sighed. She looked around the room, wondering who it belonged to, hoping whoever she was who had plastered posters of the Jonas Brothers all over her walls was having fun on her trip around the world. She looked at the time again, feeling like she had forgotten something, like she should be doing something else at that moment. Of course, she had missed school, but that wasn’t it. She had woken up late in the day and hadn’t got up early to make breakfast for Robert, or for anyone. She didn’t feel worried or nervous or scared. Maybe she should be. After all, there was a thousand-year-old vampire at the end of the hallway. But somehow, he wasn’t scarier than Robert. Somehow, she felt safe with him even though she had met him about a week ago and he had done his fair share of scary things. Removing the head of her kidnapper being one of them. Damn, had her life been so complicated ever since.

She eventually got up with the intention of taking a shower. She was glad to see all she needed was in one of the boxes in her room or already in the bathroom. After a long and necessary shower, she got dressed, picking up a wrinkled dark purple shirt and a pair of blue jeans from a box, and walked out of the room. She found herself in a cold and dark hallway and shivered at the change of temperature. She brought her arms against her chest and rubbed them as she made her way to the stairs. They lead to the living room where she expected to find Elijah. When she didn’t see him, she noticed the smell of food coming from the kitchen and followed it. The kitchen was big. Huge even. No one needed a kitchen that big. It was clean, which it had to be considering how white it was. There was an isle in the middle of the room where Elijah was sitting, with a newspaper in his hands. He had his back turned to her but she had no doubt he knew she was there. The tea in front of him was still hot and there were two cups. A plate of pancakes was also waiting for her and invited her to sit next to him.

“Good afternoon,” he said with a calm voice. “How are you feeling?” he asked, finally turning his head to look at her.

She smiled shyly then nodded before walking up to him.

“I’m fine,” she replied in a whisper. She said it because it was true though she wondered if she should be feeling differently. After all, she had just killed a man.

“Good,” Elijah nodded too. “Please eat, you must be starving.”

“You didn’t have to cook for me,” she told him timidly as a way to thank him.

“I made some for myself, it’s only normal I should make some for you,” he smiled. “How are you feeling?” he asked again, which made her frown.

“… fine…” she repeated.

“I meant, about the events of last night.”

A humorless chuckle escaped her, which surprised both of them.

“Which part? The one when you died or the part when I killed my stepfather?”

“Both, I suppose.”

She didn’t reply this time. She cut a piece of pancake with her fork and ate it.

“I should feel bad… but I don’t,” she admitted, and he was surprised not to hear guilt in her voice. “It’s as you said. He had it coming…”

“Indeed…” he agreed suspiciously.

“Does that make me a bad person?” she asked, looking up at him.

He looked at her in silence for a few seconds before he replied:

“You’re asking me?” he said with humor.

Mackenzie frowned, then smiled sadly before turning her attention back to the plate of pancakes.

“You’re in a dangerous position,” he spoke up again which made her look back up at him. “Being an elemental has always been dangerous, being an ultimate… doesn’t make it easier. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I need to say it…” he paused and he could see in her eyes she knew what he was going to say next, “Robert will not be your only victim. But I don’t doubt your next one will deserve it just like he did.”

“I don’t want to kill anyone else.”

“I know. But you will. Remember the position you are in. It’s killed or be killed. You have to look out for yourself. Don’t trust anyone, _anyone_ , with your secret. Do you understand?”

Mackenzie breathed out, annoyed. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you need to be prepared. To be ready to defend yourself. People will come for you, for your powers, for the books in that chest. I know you said you don’t want to kill Klaus, and I won’t make you. I shouldn’t have asked this of you in the first place. But you still need to control your powers. To learn how to use your magic. Jonas can help you. If you’ll let him.”

Mackenzie stared at him in silence. She wondered where all of this was coming from.

“Why do you care?” she asked. She didn’t sound angry or annoyed. She was genuinely curious.

She could tell by the look on his face he didn’t know how to answer that question.

“Why do you care if I live or die? Why am I here, Elijah?”

Elijah closed the newspaper he was sill holding and put it down on the right of the counter, turning his chair on the left, entirely facing the elemental now. Mackenzie straightened up, nervous she had offended him.

“You called me. You asked for my help.”

“And why did you help me?”

Elijah opened his mouth then closed it, not knowing what to answer.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Why would you? I mean…” she sighed, frustrated, “you probably have better things to do than babysit an eighteen-year-old hum- elemental or whatever… Now that I’m not helping you anymore, why are you helping me?”

Elijah didn’t answer right away. He was asking himself the same question.

“I don’t know.”

That was unexpected and they were both surprised. Mackenzie didn’t want to sound ungrateful but in one night she had brought a vampire back to life, killed a human man and moved out of her house. She felt different, she felt annoyed, angry, awful, sad, lost, relieved, she felt like she wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. A man had died and it was the best thing that had happened to her in a long time. She had killed a man and she didn’t feel as bad as she thought she should. She wondered if that was how Elijah had felt about killing Trevor. She saw no trace of guilt, sadness or remorse. He didn’t even flinch when Rose started crying. It had been a little over a week and so many things had happened it felt like an eternity. It had been a little over a week and _he_ out of all people, Elena, Stefan, Bonnie… was her only friend. The only person she could count on. But could she really?

“I’m not afraid of you,” she admitted, and she could see surprise on his face. “And I don’t know why either.”

“I’m not going to harm you.”

“That’s what you say. And there’s a voice inside my head that’s screaming at me not to believe you. You know what I see at night? What my nightmares are about? Trevor’s head rolling to my feet…” she said with a shaky voice, “I don’t know who you are. Are you the kind of person who kills people for no reason or are you the kind of person who helps people like me for no reason?”

“What if I’m both?” he cut her off. She couldn’t answer. “And I didn’t kill Trevor for no reason. He betrayed me.”

“That was centuries ago and you promised him he’d be safe.”

“I promised Rose…”

“She trusted you!” she shouted, startling herself.

Elijah took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, though he wasn’t thinking of hurting her in anyway, he just wanted to keep his voice steady.

“I have lived a thousand years, as you know. My brother and I are Originals. We are the most feared creatures on the planet. I didn’t get that reputation by letting traitors live.”

“And why do you need to be feared? You can’t be killed so why do you care?”

Elijah clenched his jaw.

“I don’t know why I care. I don’t feel bad about Trevor or Rose. They betrayed me. Things would have gone extremely differently if Katerina hadn’t escaped that night… I do feel bad about doing it in front of you.” Mackenzie frowned. “You are new to this world. There are things you don’t understand yet, things you will get used to. People die. It happens. More than you realize, but you’re starting to realize it. Damon Salvatore and Alaric Saltzman tried to kill me Saturday night, despite our agreement. It’s not about being right or wrong, feared or loved. It’s about surviving. Sometimes you need to use fear, sometimes you don’t. Most of the time, I admit, fear comes handy. But I can’t be killed, Mackenzie. Nothing can kill me. Not the sun, not vervain, no weapon on this planet can destroy me. So, I will be feared. Always. That’s not a path I chose, that’s the path I was put on. My siblings and I… when we became vampires, we became monsters. We lost our parents, and centuries later, I lost my siblings, one after the other. My brother took them away from me. So, I’m going to kill him. Because what else am I supposed to do?”

Mackenzie was speechless. She could see how vulnerable he was at that moment, something she never thought she would see, something she would never have imagined. She felt bad for judging him. She had no idea who he was, what he had done. Life isn’t white or black, she understood now, _it’s not about being right or wrong_. It was like a veil had lifted. Him killing his brother was her killing her stepfather. It was revenge. It was protection. It was necessary. It was _surviving_.

She got up from the chair and put her arms around him, hugging him. He didn’t expect it but hugged her back almost instantly.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t apologize,” he replied. “You’re not wrong.”


	11. Dealt With

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the mistakes and weirdly worded sentences. I haven't had this one edited and I hope you can still enjoy it!

Going through the enormous book would have given Elijah a headache if he could have any. Mackenzie wasn’t so lucky. The dozens of languages that the grimoire contained made her feel like she would never discover all of its secrets. Fortunately, there were pictures on most pages, mostly of creatures such as fairies, werewolves, mermaids, trolls and other weird and sometimes creepy monsters. Elijah was going through the pages at a rapid pace, reading some of it and giving a rough translation to Mackenzie. He chose passages he deemed important such as the one about mermaids and fairies being real or having been real in the past. It was impossible to tell if it were true or not, and in his ten centuries of life he had never met or even heard of such creatures walking this earth, so he highly doubted it. The elemental was fascinated. If the book were to be believed, elementals were descended from mermaids, fairies and other creatures like phoenixes and angels. They were their evolution, of sorts. “More like a downgrade,” Mackenzie mumbled. According to the book, the creatures were being hunted by humans and started hiding their wings and tails, making themselves look human so they would be safe from persecution. This led to the total disappearance of the limbs as their children were born without them and looked like other humans.

The book was also a kind of family tree. They were biographies and short stories about many members of the Alemaund family as well as the Fays’, the Dalimores’, the Hayes’ and the Engelbrechts’. Jonas had said the truth. They seemed to be the most important families among elementals. The Fays were mostly elementals of nature, the Dalimores of water, the Hayes of fire and the Engelbrechts of air. The Alemaunds were the first family to have one of them being able to control more than one element. It was a complete surprise but a good one as apparently as soon as it happened, most elementals started to become overly confident. They thought they would be able to finally defend themselves against witches and humans. But keeping their existence a secret was an outmost priority. The strong smell of their blood attracted werewolves and vampires which were sometimes used by witches to uncover villages of elementals and destroy them. It was some kind of law that most communities of elementals shared. “It worked rather well,” Elijah commented. By the looks of it, the grimoire had seen many owners who had added more and more pages through the generations. But Elijah and Mackenzie were mostly interested in the story of Avery Alemaund. Unfortunately, even after over 6 hours of thorough research, they still hadn’t found anything. They had noticed, however, that a few pages were missing around the middle of the grimoire and they wondered what they could possibly have been about. “What Avery did probably brought outrage within the community. They might have wanted to erase any trace of it, especially if they hated witches as much as witches hated them. They probably weren’t too happy about one of their own becoming a witch,” Elijah said.

It was around midnight when they decided to put the grimoire down. Even after hours of research, they still hadn’t gone through half of it, but they had a general idea of what they would find in the next few days. Spells, biographies, art, maps and other secrets that Elijah was certain all of Mackenzie’s ancestors would turn around in their grave if they knew a vampire was discovering them.

But for now, they didn’t really have time for it. They had to meet Elena and Stefan at the Grill at noon to renegotiate the deal. Something Mackenzie was very nervous about. She was afraid Elijah wouldn’t agree to it, and she was afraid Damon would be there.

“Don’t worry,” Elijah told her in the car as he was driving them to the bar. “They’re the ones who insisted in meeting in public. They’re more afraid of us than we are of them,” he said which made her chuckle.

“ _’Us’_ ,” she repeated, “don’t you mean ‘ _you’_?”

He smiled. “Well, Damon saw what you were capable of, I’m sure he told his brother.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re not afraid of me. I’m smaller than Elena and even she’s scarier than me. And she’s human.”

The vampire laughed. “You’re afraid of Elena?”

“No,” she sounded offended, “I’m just saying… that’s how  _not_ scary I am.”

“Well if they knew what you were, they’d be scared.”

“Oh really? Tell me, are you scared of me?”

Elijah grinned.

“See? Not scary.”

“Why would I be scared of you? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Mackenzie smiled gently. “So, the question isn’t ‘are you scared of me’, it’s ‘am I scary’?”

“You are an ultimate. That sounds rather scary, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, exactly, even  _I_ am scared of what I am. I’m a little chicken.”

Elijah laughed loudly.

“You didn’t act like ‘a little chicken’ Saturday night,” he reminded her.

“… true...”

“When your life is on the line, that’s when you really learn about yourself.”

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

“Are you really quoting Spiderman to me?”

“Are you really quoting Fast and Furious to me?”

“What?” he gave her a funny look.

“What you said, it’s… never mind,” she chuckled.

When they stepped inside the Mystic Grill, Stefan and Elena were already there. They were sitting at the table at the far-right corner, where they would get some privacy. Elena shot a worried look at Mackenzie and Stefan moved closer to the doppelganger when he saw Elijah approach.

“Ms. Gilbert,” Elijah greeted as he unbuttoned his vest.

“Elijah,” she nodded. “Thank you for coming.”

“We just want to apologize for Saturday night. Elena had no idea what Damon was plan…”

“Did you?” he cut him off, “know what your brother was planning?”

There were a few seconds of silence before he nodded. “Yes.”

His answer only surprised Mackenzie. Elena was obviously ashamed of her boyfriend’s behavior.

“It will not happen again,” Elena said with a firm voice.

“Considering I have the dagger now,” Elijah said, “I’m certain it won’t.”

“We just want to make sure nothing has changed. That we still have a deal,” Stefan asked.

“Oh, I think that a lot has changed, Stefan. Let’s renegotiate the terms, shall we?”

***

“So… what are you going to do?” Mackenzie asked Elijah as she closed the car door. The vampire put his seatbelt on in silence and placed his hands on the wheel but didn’t start the car.

“It seemed reasonable.”

“But…?”

“But what?”

“Well you didn’t take it so… there must be a ‘but’…”

“Damon.”

“Damon is the ‘but’,” Mackenzie nodded.

“He’s a problem. Even if Elena and Stefan agree to the deal, Damon will never.”

“Maybe Stefan will convince him?”

“Well he’s going to have to, if he wants me to take the deal.”

***

Elijah never heard back from Stefan. They went back to his house and spent the rest of the day, and the day after that, exploring new pages of the grimoire. He wasn’t worried, neither was Mackenzie. They figured it would take a few days to convince Damon.

Mackenzie was lying on the ground, looking at the ceiling, while Elijah was sitting on the couch next to her, translating an extract of the biography of Cornelius Fay, one of the most powerful elementals of nature to ever exist.

“It doesn’t say how he died?”

“It’s actually quite odd. It implies he never did.”

“What? He’s still alive?”

“It says he left never to return.”

“It was over 500 years ago, he’s dead.”

“I think you’re right,” he said as he closed the book and put it down on the couch.

“What are you gonna do if they don’t agree to the deal?” she asked suddenly.

Elijah was taken by surprise and didn’t answer right away.

“Well…” he sighed, “I need to find the burial ground soon. Jonas will need it to fight Klaus.”

“Unless I help you…”

Elijah frowned. “You don’t want to help.”

“I might not have a choice. If they don’t give you the location, Jonas won’t be strong enough to defeat Klaus.”

“You’re not strong enough to defeat Klaus. You might have enough powers, but you don’t know how to use them. It’s too dangerous.”

“But you’re gonna let Jonas do it.”

“Jonas knows what he’s getting himself into. He wants to do it, for his daughter, and he’s been a warlock he’s entire life. He knows how to use his powers.”

“So, what are you going to do if they don’t tell you where it is?”

“I’ll make them tell me,” he answered as he got up.

She propped herself up on her elbows and watched him walk away.

“They’re gonna tell you where it is.”

“How do you know that?” he asked as he turned around.

“Because they want to help Elena. They won’t have a better plan. They have to agree to the deal.”

Elijah was about to reply but the second he opened his mouth, his phone rang. They looked at each other, surprised and curious.

Elijah picked up. “Stefan.”

Mackenzie stood up and made her way towards him.

“I understand. I will think about it. We will meet you tomorrow.”

“What did he say?” she asked as he hang up.

“They will only tell us where the burial ground is if we agree to let Bonnie take the powers instead of Jonas.”

“Well…” Mackenzie frowned, “they can’t do that. Jonas has the spell.”

“Yes. We give them the spell, they give us the location. That’s the deal.”

“Jonas will never agree to that.”

“I’ll just have to convince him.”

***

Mackenzie didn’t sleep well. She hadn’t for a while. Elijah could see how tired she was. She yawned and rubbed her eyes several times in the car as he was driving to Jonas’ apartment.

“Did you spend the night going through the chest again?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“I’ll ask Jonas to help you with your insomnia.”

“Can he help with the nightmares, too?” she asked dryly. Elijah raised an eyebrow at her. She never talked to him that way. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to be rude.”

It started to rain as soon as he stopped the car. They heard thunder as they rushed inside the building.

“You’re not doing that, are you?” he chuckled.

“You think I can control the weather?” she grinned back.

“I think the list of things you cannot do is very short.”

“Oh, I’d like to see that list,” she laughed.

The weather only worsened as they walked up the stairs.

“They’re not here,” Mackenzie said before Elijah even had the chance to knock on the door. She couldn’t feel their magic, there was nobody home.

Elijah froze.

“What it is?” she frowned as she saw the worried look on his face.

“Stay here,” he instructed her.

He had broken the door and stepped inside the apartment before she had the chance to ask “what’s wrong?”.

Of course, she didn’t listen to him. She followed him, somewhat instinctively, as if “stay here” didn’t mean “don’t move” but was something people said just in case something was wrong.

But she should have listened.

Because something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

She couldn’t move pass the threshold. As if there were an invisible force stopping her from moving. She found herself stuck in the doorway, feeling paralyzed as she was faced with the most horrifying scene. Jonas and Luka, or what used to be Jonas and Luka, lying there, on the ground, missing one or both of their legs and arms, dropped there, on the floor covered in their own blood. It was a sight from a horror movie. Everything was covered in blood; the walls, the furniture, the windows… This room where she had spent hours looked nothing like it used to. She didn’t recognize it, but she will never forget it.

A high pitch cry escaped her. She jumped when she felt a hand cover her mouth. Elijah quickly turned her around and brought her to his chest, holding her tight so she couldn’t look, so she could feel safe. He held her shaking body for a while, listened to her muffled cries, as he stroked her hair and gently whispered that everything was going to be okay.


	12. Gone Creature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry this took so long, you have no idea how many times I've tried to write this chapter, how many versions of this there were. I will try to upload the next chapter very soon, but as always, I make no promises.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this!

The screams echoing in the hallways were nothing unusual anymore. It had started on the night of Jonas and Luka’s murder and had continued well after that. Even after Elijah and the Salvatores had set their differences aside and allied to defeat Klaus, even after Bonnie got the powers from the burial ground, even after Elena had insisted on having lunch with Mackenzie every single day of the school week. The nightmares were there and they weren’t going away. She knew that. And so did he.

“Mackenzie,” he whispered as he sat down on the edge of her bed, placing a hand on her cheek.

She woke up with a start as he stroke a thumb on her wet face.

“It’s okay,” he said like he always did, “you’re okay.”

She sniffed, then took a deep breath then sniffed again, before she slowly sat up.

“Sorry,” she said like she always did, as she wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand.

It had been almost two weeks and nothing had helped. Practicing her magic didn’t work. Spending time with the girls, making friends with them, didn’t work. Bonnie’s teas didn’t work. Helping Caroline with the dance didn’t work, not that Mackenzie had ever thought it would.

The first week, she had asked him to stay with her and he had never refused. But the second week, she hadn’t needed to ask anymore. He laid down next to her without a word and she moved to rest her head on his shoulder. She usually slept perfectly after that.

“Are you ready for the dance tomorrow?” he made her laugh.

“You keep asking like you want to go,” she joked back.

“What is it again?”

“A 60’s dance.”

“I’d rather chase down Katerina.”

“Still no word from her?”

“No,” he shook his head, “my guess is Klaus has her. Damon and Stefan said they haven’t seen her since…”

“Since the Martins…”

“Mmh,” he nodded.

“Do you think she’s dead?”

“No. Not Klaus’ style. Death would be… too easy for her, for what she did.”

Mackenzie shivered. “Let’s just… sleep.”

“Of course, my apologies.”

“G’night ‘lijah,” she mumbled with a yawn.

“Good night Mackenzie.”

 

***

 

It made Elijah nervous to leave Mackenzie alone. He didn’t really know why. But after what happened to the Martins, he feared that Klaus’ next target would be the elemental. Not because she was a threat, but because she would be an easy way to hurt him. So, he drove her to school in the morning and picked her up in the afternoon. He couldn’t take the risk of leaving her alone. Especially now that the full moon was in two days.

“What are you going to do this morning?” Mackenzie asked as he stopped the car.

“I’m going to read more about the Holy Forest. The documents we found yesterday are going to be easy to translate.”

“Your morning sounds as exciting as mine,” she chuckled. “Actually, it sounds more exciting than mine,” she sighed once she saw Elena and Caroline waving at her at the other end of the parking lot.

“I thought you got along with them?”

“I do,” she shrugged. “But I can already hear them trying to get me to go to the dance tonight. Caroline keeps insisting on finding me a date no matter how many times I say no… I just… I don’t understand how they can even think about it.”

“Would you rather they stay locked inside their home waiting for Klaus to find them?”

“I…” she shook her head. “I don’t know… I don’t know if that makes them brave or…”

“Or?” he raised an eyebrow.

She chuckled. “Nothing. I’m gonna be late. See you later.”

She could feel the two pair of eyes on her as she exited the car. She could already hear Caroline complain about how she didn’t trust him and how she shouldn’t trust him either. Mackenzie had learnt to ignore her.

Alaric was finally back from his two-week hiatus. Elena had started to worry but she understood he needed time after seeing Isobel two weeks earlier. He hadn’t even tried to contact Jenna. She wondered what her birth mother had told him. Could it have been more upsetting than seeing her kill herself?

Alaric was obviously going through something. He didn’t even bother to try teaching his class, he just rambled about the 60’s instead. Mackenzie thought there was something odd about him, but she couldn’t place it. She wondered where the magic she sensed on him was coming from. Maybe he had been taking some of Bonnie’s teas? She couldn’t figure it out.

It bothered her not to be able to mention it at lunch. Elena and Bonnie saw something was wrong, but she didn’t know what to tell them. Luckily, they were preoccupied with other things.

“What did you tell Jeremy for him to run off this way?” Elena asked.

“I told him he had to dress up tonight.”

The doppelganger laughed. “That would do it.”

“You’re still not coming tonight, Mack?”

“I don’t want to dress up either,” she tried to joke.

“Hey, Elena, there you are,” a girl from their history class, whose name Mackenzie couldn’t remember, interrupted them. “This is gonna sound super freaky but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you’re going to the dance tonight?”

Elena looked both surprised and uncomfortable, she looked at Bonnie who frowned and said: “Tell him she has a boyfriend.”

“You could at least meet him,” she insisted, “he’ll be at the dance tonight, look for him. His name is Klaus.”

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Elena asked.

“His name is Klaus. I know the name’s stupid but I swear he’s hot!”

Mackenzie drew a shaky breath as she took out her phone and texted Elijah.

“We gotta go,” Elena said, and they almost ran out of the cafeteria.

When they got to the Salvatores’ house, Elijah was already there, waiting in the living room with Stefan and Damon. She immediately went his way and stayed by his side.

“What happened?” Stefan asked.

Elena explained everything which he already knew. There wasn’t much to say. Klaus was here. Klaus would be at the dance. They needed a plan and they needed it now.

“So we go to the dance, we find him,” Damon said like it was going to be that easy.

“Really?” Stefan stopped him, “he could be anywhere at any time, he compelled somebody at school.”

A knock on the front door was followed by Alaric’s entrance.

“There you are,” Damon welcomed him.

“Sorry I’m late...” he stepped toward the group but stopped at the sight of Elijah.

“Hey, I need you to put me down as a chaperon for the dance tonight,” Damon cut him off. “Klaus made his first move,” he said like it was a game.

Alaric didn’t reply nor look away from the Original. Mackenzie frowned, wondering what was wrong.

“Okay,” Elena breathed out, “so we find him and then what? What’s our plan of attack?”

“Me,” Bonnie said, “I’m the plan. He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him.”

The elemental looked up at her roommate who nodded. “Yes. Ms. Bennett is our only chance at killing Klaus.”

“That’s not gonna be that easy,” Alaric laughed quietly, “I mean, he’s the biggest baddest vampire around.”

“Alaric has a point I mean,” Damon started, “what if he…” he launched himself at the witch who, by a simple wave of a hand, sent him fly away to the other end of the room.

“Well, I was impressed,” Stefan nodded.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me. I can kill him. I know I can.”

“So, Mackenzie,” Elijah said, “looks like we’re going to the dance after all.”

“You’re going…?” Alaric asked with a weird look on his face, his finger moving from the girl to the vampire.

“Well, I’m the only one here who knows what Klaus looks like. Besides, I believe you will need the reinforcement.”

“Why take Mackenzie? It’s too dangerous,” Elena said.

“I’m not a student, Ms. Gilbert, Mackenzie is my way in.”

“She’s your date,” Alaric said with what looked like amusement on his face.

Mackenzie frowned. If she had to go to this dance, and especially if Klaus was going to be there, she would feel safer with Elijah there.

“I guess she is,” the vampire nodded and all of them could feel the discomfort settling in the room.

 

***

 

“I hate this.”

“You look great, Ms. Alemaund.”

“I look ridiculous!”

“You look beautiful,” Elijah insisted.

Mackenzie blushed at the compliment and blushed even more at the thought he could see it.

“Well, you look…” she paused, looked at him, at his dark blue suit with his matching tie, looking for something to say, “you look like you.”

Elijah chuckled. “You’re terrible at compliments, Mackenzie. Both at receiving them and at giving them.”

She shrugged before turning around to look herself at the mirror one more time. She had picked up the dress from Caroline’s. A white short sleeved dress with red cherries all over it. She had red lips and pink cheeks. Her hair was brought up in a ponytail and she was wearing a red headband. The short heels of her white shoes made her stand a little bit taller, but just a little bit.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“I’d rather be chasing after Katherine too,” she said which made him laugh.

He took her hand and pulled her away from the mirror. “It’s going to be okay.”

She could tell he was worried. She knew how difficult it was for him. After all, if everything went right tonight, his brother would be dead before morning.

 

***

 

Everybody was staring at them. Nobody knew Elijah and they all stared at Mackenzie’s date like he was an alien.

“Do you see anything?” she whispered.

“A bunch of gossiping teenagers.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know what you meant. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you as soon as I see him.”

“Do you see Stefan and Elena?”

“They’re dancing over there.”

“Good evening!” the same girl from lunch stepped on the stage and seized the mic. “We have a special shout out tonight. This is for Elena. From Klaus.”

“Well he’s definitely here,” Mackenzie mumbled, growing more and more nervous. Elijah squeezed her hand.

“You’ll be fine. Remember, stay by my side.”

“If you think I’m going anywhere without you you’re crazy.”

“Would you care to dance?” he asked, holding a hand out to her.

She chuckled. “You don’t want me to dance with you, unless you enjoy people stepping on your feet.”

“I’ll take the risk,” he insisted with a smile, taking her hand and dragging her to the dance floor. He put his right hand on her waist and took her other hand in his. She rested her free hand on his shoulders.

“What are you doing?” she breathed out.

“Blending in. Following Ms. Bennett’s lead,” he said, gesturing towards Bonnie and Jeremy who were dancing near them. Bonnie gave a weird look to Mackenzie as she saw her in the arms of the Original. She ignored it and focused on her feet. The last thing she wanted to do was step on his.

“Thank you,” she said after a few minutes of dancing in silence.

He raised his eyebrows. “For what?”

“For helping me. I know I’m difficult… with the nightmares and… I’m just very grateful.”

He didn’t reply right away, which made her look up at him.

“I enjoyed the last few weeks with you. I’m not used to… company. To having a friend. Not in the recent years at least.”

“Me neither. It was nice.”

“’Was’? Now you make it sound like something bad is going to happen.”

“I don’t know… I have a bad feeling. It’s silly.”

“It’s not silly at all. Fear is good. Fear means you have something to lose.”

“I don’t want to lose you,” she said, surprising herself and him.

“I don’t want to lose you either, Ms. Alemaund.” After all, she was all he had.

She laughed.

“Are you mocking me now?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No. I just… When we met… I never thought… I never thought I’d be glad to have met you.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “I get that a lot.”

She laughed again. But then he lost his smile and started to look around and she started to get worried.

“What’s wrong?”

“They’re gone.”

“Who’s gone?”

“All of them. Bonnie, Damon, Elena… I don’t see them.”

Mackenzie looked around but she couldn’t find them either.

“Come on.”

When they reached the hallway, it was empty. They hurried down it then heard glass break. They ran towards the sound and found Alaric inside the trophy shelf. Bonnie and Elena at the other side of the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Elijah asked.

“It’s Klaus, he’s inside Alaric’s body!” Elena told them.

Alaric, or Klaus, started to laugh.

“Hi big brother. Surprised to see me?”

Elijah picked up Alaric with supernatural strength and speed and pinned him against the wall. His brother only laughed.

“By all means, brother. If you destroy this body, I’ll just get a new one.”

“Don’t!” Elena shouted.

So that’s what Mackenzie was sensing from him. It wasn’t Alaric but Klaus all along. She should have mentioned it. She could have stopped this.

“I see you made a new friend,” Klaus kept laughing.

“Elijah?” Mackenzie called with a quiet voice.

The vampire turned his head and saw Mackenzie looking down at her hands. She was bleeding. From her eyes, her nose, her ears.

“What are you doing?” he growled, pushing his brother harder against the wall.

“Me? Nothing,” he grinned.

“Let her go!” he heard Elena shout.

When he turned around, Mackenzie was in the arms of an unknown man, someone Elijah guessed was a witch, responsible for putting Klaus inside the history professor’s body and for Mackenzie’s pain. The elemental passed out and fell in the hands of Klaus’ minion.

“Ms. Bennett,” Elijah warned.

Bonnie didn’t know what to do. She tried to send the warlock away like she had with Damon earlier that day, but before she had the chance to do anything, he had vanished, and Mackenzie was gone with him.

“Where are they?” Elijah snarled.

Klaus only laughed. “Don’t worry. I won’t harm her. As long as you don’t harm me. Oh, and, I think you have something of mine. The moon stone? Rings any bell?”

“I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”

“That’s what I’m counting on. You want her back safely? You know what to do. Or should I say, what _not_ to do.”

Klaus waited for his brother to let go of him. He could see the dilemma in his eyes.

“I must say I was disappointed to hear you were plotting my death, brother.”

“You killed them,” Elijah said so low it almost scared Klaus, “our siblings. Our blood. Our family. You deserve to die.”

Klaus laughed again. “Are you willing to risk your little witch’s life?”

The need for revenge was almost too big. Who was Mackenzie to him? He had known her for a month, she wasn’t worth it. His siblings were. Klaus deserved to die for what he did. And yet, to Mackenzie, he was a savior. A friend. Someone she trusted. Someone he promised to protect, to keep safe.

Elijah’s grip only became tighter as Klaus waited for his response. Eventually, he let go.

“When will you learn, Elijah? Love… is a weakness.”

Elijah threw a punch so fast and so hard Elena, Bonnie and even Klaus heard it before they saw it. The girls gasped, thinking for a second that Klaus/Alaric were dead. But all Elijah did was punch a hole inside the wall.

“I’ll stay in touch,” Klaus said, dismissing his brother. Elijah hesitated, looked at Bonnie and Elena for a few seconds, before he vanished.

“Now,” Klaus sighed as he turned his attention back to the Bennett witch. “Where were we?”


	13. Trapped Creature

Elijah was losing his mind. It was unlike him to be this reckless. He thought he had learnt his lesson. How many times had Klaus killed someone he cared about just to spite him? Too many times for him to make that mistake again. But Elijah had been too confident. He had been so focused on making a plan to kill his brother that he hadn’t imagined he’d fail. And now, Mackenzie was paying the price.

Elena was mad. She was mad at Damon for making her believe Bonnie was dead and she was mad at herself for putting Makenzie in danger. She wondered if Klaus could be trusted to keep his word.

“Do you think he told the truth?” she asked Elijah once they were back in the Salvatores’ living room. “Do you think he’ll give us Mackenzie back once he has the moon stone?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “He won’t give her back until the sacrifice is done.”

“Can we go over the plan again?” Damon said, “Because I’m not letting Elena get sacrificed, I don’t care about your 500-year-old potion. It’s not happening.”

“It’s not your decision to make, Damon,” Elena reminded him. “It is happening. We cooperate so that Klaus doesn’t kill any of you. Bonnie and Elijah will kill him during the ritual. That’s the plan and I don’t care if you don’t like it.”

“What about John’s ring?”

“Ms. Gilbert is a doppelganger, she’s not human. Chances are the ring won’t work.”

“Well, I’ll take those odds over your magical witch potion with no expiration date.”

“What about Mackenzie?” Elena asked, ignoring him. “If we fail to kill Klaus… he’ll kill her.”

“Likely,” Elijah nodded. “Which is why we won’t fail.”

 

***

 

Mackenzie woke up in an unfamiliar room. She was alone but the bedroom door was open, and she could hear people talking. One of them sounded like Elena but didn’t feel like Elena at all. She was a vampire, Mackenzie knew it. There were two other people with her. One of them was very powerful.

She sat up slowly, feeling dizzy, and gasped when she saw the blood on her dress. That’s when she remembered. It was her blood. She’d been taken by Klaus. Fear seized her.

“Well, well, well,” Alaric said as he entered the bedroom. “Look who’s awake.”

“Klaus,” she breathed out.

“Indeed,” he smiled but there was nothing friendly about his demeanor. “Mackenzie, is it? I have to say,” he chuckled, “I was surprised to see you with my brother. I wonder what he sees in you.”

Mackenzie ignored the insult. It was the least of her problems.

“Although, he always had a soft spot for witches.”

Mackenzie felt like she was back in that dirty house with Elena, Rose and Trevor. Except this time, she wasn’t afraid of Elijah. This time, she hoped he’d come save her.

“What do you want?” she asked in a whisper. She couldn’t talk any louder.

“To break the curse,” he shrugged. “Oh, you mean, from you? Nothing. You are going to help me get the final ingredient to help me break it. I told my brother I’d exchange you against the moon stone. Tell me, do you think he’ll do it?”

She frowned. Did she think he’ll do it? She hoped he would. But she also knew how badly Elijah wanted Klaus dead. And if he gave him the stone, it meant he would be able to do the sacrifice, which meant Elena would die. Unless Elijah gave her the potion he mentioned. Would he? Would he risk it all for her? She wished she knew.

“I don’t know,” she whispered so low Klaus almost didn’t hear her in this human body.

“Well, I do know my brother. And I know he will. He’s probably beating himself up right now for putting you in danger. That is, if he cares, of course.”

Mackenzie frowned. Klaus seemed to enjoy this mental game. She tried not to let it get to her but failed.

“You know what I find interesting? My friend Maddox here, he’s a very powerful witch you see, and he tells me he’s never met someone as powerful as you,” he finished as he took a step forward, making Mackenzie move back instinctively, but her back met with the wall. “Now how can you be so powerful and yet so weak?”

Now she had to be smart. Of course, she couldn’t tell him the truth, but even if she told him she was just a witch he’d kill her if he thought for even one second she was powerful enough to take him down the way Bonnie tried to.

“I only learnt recently I was a witch. I don’t know how to use magic.”

“Really?” he raised an eyebrow. “Did my brother tell you that?”

“I… I couldn’t be compelled. That’s how I learnt I wasn’t human.”

“Elijah tried to compel you?”

“No. A vampire. She’s dead now.”

“Dead, uh?”

“Killed by a werewolf.”

Klaus laughed. “This town sounds very exciting,” he said before turning around and gesturing her to follow him.

She hesitated, she didn’t want to go anywhere with him.

“You can either follow me or I can drag you, your choice,” he called from the other room.

She followed. In the living room of what she assumed was her history professor’s apartment, stood whom she guessed to be Katherine and Maddox. She could feel Maddox was indeed very powerful, though not as powerful as Bonnie was. She wondered what happened to her friends after she was taken from the dance.

“Meet Katerina, your babysitter.” The vampire rolled her eyes but said nothing. “And Maddox. Now, Maddox and I have some business to attend to. I understand you can’t practice magic, that is if you didn’t lie to me of course,” he winked at her, “but let me be clear. I made a promise to my big brother I wouldn’t harm you. But if you try anything, if when I come back you’re somewhere else other than in this apartment, I will find you and I will have to break that promise, do you understand?”

Mackenzie swallowed then nodded.

“Good! See you later then,” he said then they were gone.

A few seconds of silence passed during which Katherine listened to Klaus and his minion leave the building. When they were out, she took a breath then sat down on the couch.

“So you’re dating Elijah, uh?” she asked while inspecting her nails.

Mackenzie had heard a lot about Katherine. About who she was and all the terrible things she did. But she would have never imagined that the first thing the vampire would say to her would be this.

“No,” she said, shifting from one foot to the other.

“Really?” she raised an eyebrow as she looked up at the girl, “Klaus said you were his weakness.”

“We’re friends.”

“Mmh,” she said as if she were thinking about it. “Well, Klaus is right, you know. Elijah’s not going to let you die.”

Mackenzie wished that were true. She wished she could believe it. Maybe she felt bad she had ruined her friend’s chance at avenging his siblings.

“You’re not a witch.”

Mackenzie felt like time had stopped, like her heart had stopped beating. Katherine hadn’t said that like she was asking a question. She said it like she knew.

“I…”

“It was smart, lying to him,” the vampire continued, “though a terrible decision, really. When he hears your last name, he’ll know exactly what you are.”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

As soon as she said that, Katherine was on her feet, right in front of the elemental.

“Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot,” she said, her face inches from hers. “Alemaund? Elijah should’ve told you Klaus wouldn’t be fooled. Anyone who’s as old as he is knows what an Alemaund is.”

Mackenzie swallowed. “How do _you_ know?” she asked with a trembling voice.

Katherine shrugged then backed away. “I’ve met elementals before. Helped a mermaid once in Germany.”

 _Germany? The Holy Forest?_ Mackenzie wanted to ask but was too afraid to. What if she asked how she knew about it? She couldn’t risk it.

“A… mermaid?” she faked ignorance.

“Yeah, an elemental of water. She wasn’t half fish or anything but, that’s what she called herself.”

“Did you… did you tell the others?”

“You mean Damon and Stefan? No. They don’t even know what an elemental is. Besides, it is smart to lie. Your kind has a lot of enemies and very few friends.”

“I’ve been told my kind was extinct.”

“Yeah, half true.”

“Do you… do you know other elementals… that are still alive I mean?”

Katherine looked up and grinned. “Maybe.”

Mackenzie hesitated but sat near the vampire anyway. “Tell me. Tell me about elementals.”

“Urgh,” she rolled her eyes, “you’re lucky I’m bored. What do you wanna know?”

“I… How… How many have you met?”

Katherine thought about it before she answered. “18.”

“18?” Mackenzie sounded surprised. “I thought elementals were all dead.”

“Not really. Your kind is hiding and has gotten very good at it through the centuries. Most of them are in Europe, mostly Germany.”

“What’s in Germany?”

Katherine sighed like she hesitated to answer but then realized she didn’t care.

“There’s a community there, hidden. It’s called the Holy Forest,” she scoffed, “what a ridiculous name. It’s safe for any creature. Killing in the Forest is strictly forbidden. If you kill someone, you kill yourself. Of course that sounded like paradise for your kind.”

“Does… does it still exist?”

“Oh sure. Powerful witches live there ‘cause they don’t have to worry about their safety. They’re so powerful they made themselves immortal. They lead it.”

“They lead the community?”

“Yeah, there’s a queen there. Margo. She’s the bastard child of a Spanish King. She felt like she deserved a crown so she made herself a kingdom. Smart girl that witch.”

“Do you know her?”

“She doesn’t like me very much,” Katherine grinned. “But I’ve met her.”

“How… What were you doing in the Forest?”

“Hiding from Klaus,” she said as she pushed herself away from the couch. Mackenzie followed her with her eyes as she walked towards the kitchen and took out a bottle of brown alcohol.

“Why did you leave?”

“’cause it’s boring. It’s like a small country, or a really big city, but it’s a secret so you imagine how it is.”

“Boring,” Mackenzie nodded.

“Exactly. It’s a hassle to get inside so I never went back.”

“Are your elemental friends still there?”

“My elemental friends are dead.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, old age. You don’t really die from anything else over there, which is the only plus side really.”

“Your friends… they were all mermaids?”

“No. They were from every family. One of them, an Alemaund, was even an ultimate.”

Mackenzie started to sweat. “An ultimate?”

“Mmh. An elemental who can control every element and more. Even practice witchcraft,” Katherine brought the bottle to her mouth before she sat back down. “What about you? What element can you control?”

“Uh… I,” she shook her head.

“Let me guess, you don’t know.”

“I told Klaus the truth. I don’t really know how to use my powers.”

“You don’t ‘really’ know? So you know a little?”

“I…” she shrugged, “a little.”

“Like what?”

“Uh… fire. And nature.”

“Mmh, interesting. You might be an ultimate yourself. After all Maddox did think you were a witch. Maybe it’s because you can practice witchcraft.”

“That would be bad, right?”

“How so?” Katherine raised an eyebrow.

“If I’m an ultimate. Klaus will kill me.”

“Maybe. Probably.”

“We thought you’d be dead,” she changed the subject, “Damon and Stefan told Elijah they thought Klaus had killed you.”

“No. Klaus won’t kill me. Not now anyway. He’s enjoying torturing me. You want my advice? If you manage to get out of here, run. Run and don’t come back.”

“Sounds like good advice.”

“How do you think I survived all these years?”

 

***

 

Seeing Klaus, the real Klaus, walk out of that life size box was one of the most terrifying thing Mackenzie had ever witnessed. Mostly because Greta Martin and Maddox had made it look so easy. Mackenzie hadn’t said a word since Klaus had come back. The original vampire, to her relief, had more important issues to deal with than engage in conversation with her.

Seeing Greta broke her heart. She didn’t dare speak to her, but she remembered how determined her father and brother were to get her back. She wondered how they would have felt if they had known she was working with Klaus because she wanted to.

Katherine kept talking about the Forest. She really liked hearing herself talk. But she didn’t tell Mackenzie anything she didn’t already know. She went on and on about ultimates and how they came to exist, how elementals had been chased down through the centuries by vampires and witches, mostly witches. The only interesting information Mackenzie wanted to hear more about was the Holy Forest. Unfortunately, it seemed that Katherine was done talking about it.

“Good news, Mackie Mack!” Klaus said in the late afternoon of the day of the full moon. “Elijah agreed to the exchange! Of course, that’s just the first part of the deal. I’ll only release you after. Once I’m back, and alive, and curse free,” he grinned before he left to get Elena, and the moon stone.

Mackenzie swallowed. She knew if Klaus died, she’d be free, if he didn’t, she would die. Because there was no way Elijah wasn’t going to try to kill his brother. She just knew it.

When Klaus came back an hour later, he was alone, and mad. “Where’s Maddox? He should be back by now.”

“I don’t know,” Katherine mumbled.

Klaus sat at the desk and opened his laptop. He seemed to be watching a video.

“What are you doing?” the vampire asked but received no answer. “Where’s Elena?” she sighed out of annoyance.

“With Greta.”

Screams of pain came out of the laptop and Mackenzie shivered when she understood it was live footage.

“It’s almost time,” Klaus said with a smile.

Mackenzie was too afraid to ask. She wouldn’t have had the time anyway as the front door opened suddenly. Mackenzie, for a reason she didn’t know, moved towards Katherine, as if she’d be safer by the vampire’s side.

“I wasn’t aware you’ve been invited in,” Klaus said which made Mackenzie frown.

She hadn’t seen anyone enter but as she turned around and followed Klaus’ gaze, she saw Damon standing in front of the Original.

“I came here to tell you that you have to postpone the ritual.”

“Didn’t we already have this conversation?”

“Yeah but that was before I rescued your werewolf and vampire.”

Mackenzie looked up at Katherine who said nothing. _What werewolf and vampire? And why did it matter?_

“And killed your witch,” Damon finished.

“Excuse me?” Klaus said with a threatening tone as he got up and took angry steps towards the vampire.

“And you can kill me for it,” Damon continued, “I don’t care. It was all me.”

“Girls, give us a moment,” Klaus said, not removing his eyes from Damon.

Katherine took Mackenzie to the bedroom and closed the door.

“Trust me. You don’t want to see this.”

 

***

 

Katherine opened the bedroom door after she heard Klaus call her. Of course, Mackenzie hadn’t heard anything. Damon was lying on the floor, unconscious but alive.

“I need you to do me a favor,” he told Katherine as he handed her a cellphone which Mackenzie recognized to be Elena’s.

“What?”

“Call sweet aunt Jenna for me, will you? Tell her to come over here.”

“What? Why?” Mackenzie couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“Well, unfortunately Damon has let my vampire escape, so I’m going to need a new one.”

“What? But… she’s not a vampire.”

“You’re right. She’s not a vampire. Yet,” he grinned a terrifying smile.

Mackenzie’s eyes grew big as she understood, and her heart started to beat harder in her chest.

“You can’t do this!”

Klaus laughed. “Of course I can. And I will.”

Mackenzie looked up at Katherine who shook her head no. Of course she knew there was nothing she could do and any attempt to stop him would result in her death but she had to do something. She couldn’t just let Jenna die.

“Can’t you use somebody else?”

Klaus turned around and raised an eyebrow. “And who would you suggest I kill instead of Elena’s aunt? Do you have anyone in mind? Someone at school you don’t like, perhaps?”

“I… I…”

“I’ll tell you what,” he said as he approached her and it took everything she had in her not to step back, “if you can name someone, anyone you’d like me to kill instead, I will,” he gave her a smile that made her want to puke. “Well? Anyone?”

“Klaus, she’s not gonna name anyone,” Katherine stopped him.

“I know she won’t,” he said as he took the elemental’s face in his hand. “She’s no killer.”

 

***

 

Right after Klaus exited the building to go meet Jenna, Katherine took a blood bag from the fridge and started feeding it to Damon who was still lying on the floor with a broken neck. The first thing he asked was why Mackenzie was “wailing”.

“He should’ve used me,” Damon growled as he got on his feet with some difficulty. “Why didn’t he use me?”

“He couldn’t. He said you were as good as dead.”

“What does that even mean?”

“What does it mean?” she repeated with anger in her voice. She took his arm and brought his sleeve up revealing a nasty wound.

“What is this Damon?”

“That’s…” he sighed. “That’s a werewolf bite.”

“That’s… that’s gonna kill you,” Mackenzie said.

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know!” he snapped.

“Damon, focus!” Katherine waved a hand in front of his face, “Tell us. What’s the plan?”

“The plan?”

“Yeah, the plan! The plan to kill Klaus.”

“What so you can call him and tell him all about it?”

“Are you kidding me? I want Klaus dead! What makes you think I want him to come back and kill me after he’s done torturing me?”

Damon sighed and rolled his eyes. “We let him do the sacrifice and we kill him when he turns after the ritual. When he’s most vulnerable.”

“We?”

“Bonnie and Elijah.”

“Wha- I thought Bonnie could kill Klaus on her own,” Mackenzie asked.

“Channeling that much power will kill her. We faked her death, Klaus thinks she’s dead. He knows Elijah’s around but he thinks he won’t intervene because of you,” he said pointing a finger at the her. “You better pray this works, because if it doesn’t, you’re both as dead as me.”

 

***

 

That was the longest night of Mackenzie’s life. She hadn’t slept at all and Klaus still hadn’t come back at sunrise. But something told them Klaus was still alive. And that thing was trashing Alaric’s living room.

“He’s still alive!” she shouted as she threw a chair against the wall. “I’m still compelled!”

Mackenzie couldn’t move as she watched Katherine destroy all of her professor’s furniture. She was petrified with fear. Klaus was still alive which meant she was dead. She didn’t know if Bonnie and Elijah had survived, she didn’t know if Elena had taken the potion, and she probably never will.

As the day passed Mackenzie went through different phases. She panicked silently in the morning, had needed Katherine to calm her down at noon, and cried tears of grief for both her friends and herself in the afternoon. When the sun went away however, she started to ask questions.

“Didn’t he say he’d be back today? Where is he?”

“How should I know?” Katherine replied, though she did find it weird too.

Mackenzie eventually fell asleep, exhausted from her previous sleepless night. She woke up early in the morning, and still no sign of Klaus.

“Klaus hasn’t come back but Damon and Stefan haven’t either,” Katherine eventually said on the second afternoon.

“Maybe they’re dead,” Mackenzie said with no emotion in her voice.

“Or they’re afraid of Klaus and they’re staying away.”

“Either way we have no idea what happened.”

“Can I ask you something?”

Mackenzie looked up at the vampire, suddenly curious. “Sure.”

“If nobody comes for us and you’re about to die from starvation, do you mind if I drink your blood? I’m almost out of blood bags.”

Mackenzie stared at Elena’s doppelganger in silence for a minute before she started laughing.

“I’m being serious,” Katherine insisted though the grin on her face contradicted that statement.

“You wanna eat me?”

“You smell very good. In fact, you’re starting to smell _extremely_ good. I was wondering how you managed to cover your scent.”

“Elijah,” she replied, wiping a few tears off her cheeks, “his blood helps.”

“Vampire blood hides your scent?” she asked and the elemental nodded. “Interesting.”

“Well, if Klaus comes back he’ll smell the lie on me. Not that it matters, he’ll kill me anyway,” she said, resigned to her fate.

“Mmh, let’s not take any chances,” the vampire said as she bit her wrist.

“What are you doing?”

“Drink.”

Mackenzie raised her eyebrows.

“Drink before it heals.”

Mackenzie hesitated but drank anyway.

“Thank you…”

“Don’t mention it,” the vampire sighed as she leaned back into the couch.

Katherine started talking and never stopped. She talked about her human life, how she became a vampire, what she did to survive. How she would do it all over again. At some point in the night she realized Mackenzie had fallen asleep next to her. She’d have been offended if she weren’t so worried.

On the third afternoon, as they were playing cards in the kitchen, the front door opened. Mackenzie’s heart stopped as she heard someone enter the apartment. The look on Katherine’s face didn’t reassure her at all. But when they turned around all they felt was relief.

“Two days we’ve been waiting!” Katherine told Stefan as he closed the door. “What happened?”

“We ran into complications.”

“Complications?” Katherine repeated.

“Doesn’t really matter, I need to find him, any idea where he is?”

“We’ve been trapped in here for two days,” Mackenzie told Stefan. “Why hasn’t anyone come before now?”

“Well, why didn’t you leave?” Stefan frowned, “Katherine’s not really compelled to keep you in here, I thought you’d have gone by now.”

“Wait… you’re not?!”

“Um, yeah maybe should’ve mentioned that.”

“You think?!”

“Sorry,” Katherine shrugged. “I enjoy your company.”

Mackenzie almost choked. It had been a while since she’d felt some sort of anger. She also felt really stupid for thinking Katherine Pierce would have been honest with her.

“Don’t you remember what he said? If you leave he’ll come after you and kill you. And… he’ll know I’m on vervain and he’ll kill me…” she said as if she weren’t remorseful at all. And she wasn’t, Mackenzie had listened to her long enough to know Katherine Pierce didn’t do remorse.

“I…” Mackenzie shook her head, she was speechless. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “How’s Elijah?” she finally asked.

“He betrayed us. He was about to kill Klaus when he saved him.”

“What? Why?” She couldn’t believe it. All Elijah had talked about in the past month was the plan to kill his brother. She had seen his determination, his pain, his anger. What could have possibly changed his mind?

“Klaus told him his siblings were safe and that he’d take him to them,” Stefan explained, and she gasped. That would explain it.

“Is… is it true?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.”

“Wait,” Katherine cut them off, “why are _you_ here? Do you have a death wish or something?”

“I just need to know where he is, do you…”

But before he could finish his sentence, the door opened again. They all backed away to see Klaus come in, and he wasn’t alone.

“Elijah,” Mackenzie breathed out as she went to hug him. He hugged her back, happy to see her safe and unharmed. Klaus raised an eyebrow and grinned a mocking smile.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he took a look at her. She was still wearing that bloody dress from the dance.

“She’s fine, brother. I told her I wouldn’t harm your little witch.

“Klaus,” Katherine said, seizing Stefan by his jacket, “look who decided to come for a visit.”

“Well you just keep popping up, don’t you?” Klaus smiled, amused.

“I need your help,” Stefan said, “for my brother.”

“Well, whatever it is it’s gonna have to wait. You see, I have an obligation to _my_ brother that requires my immediate attention,” Klaus said as he walked away towards the kitchen.

Stefan’s eyes moved from Mackenzie to Elijah to whom he gave a dark look.

“You understand how important family is or you wouldn’t be here,” the Original told the youngest Salvatore. He looked down at Mackenzie and explained: “My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own.”

“And so I shall.”

Mackenzie jumped as she heard Klaus speak from behind her. Elijah turned around to face his brother who pushed a dagger in his heart.

“No!” Mackenzie screamed, “stop it!”

“Don’t,” were Elijah’s last word, though they weren’t for his brother.

“No,” she cried as he fell on the floor, “why did you do that?!” she asked as she kneeled near her friend’s dead body.

“Don’t remove the dagger now, or I’ll have to use it on you before I put it back, do you understand?”

Mackenzie didn’t reply. “Why did you do that?” she cried, cupping Elijah’s cheeks with shaking hands.

Klaus ignored her. He seized Stefan by his shirt and pushed him against a wall. “Now… what am I gonna do with you?”

 

***

 

Mackenzie stayed by Elijah’s body while Klaus repeatedly pushed a knife in Stefan’s abdomen. Mackenzie could only hear Stefan’s cries of pain and Elijah’s silence.

“He’s just trying to help his brother,” Katherine eventually said.

“The witches said you had a cure. Make me a deal. Just give me the cure and I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Trouble is,” Klaus said as he removed the knife from Stefan’s stomach. The vampire fell to the floor. “I don’t know if you’d be any good to me the way you are now,” he continued as he poured blood into a glass. “I heard about this one vampire, always on and off the wagon for decades. When he was off, he was magnificent. A true ripper. Sound familiar?” he asked with an evil grin as he brought the glass of blood to his lips.

“I haven’t been that way in a very long time.”

“Well that’s a vampire I can made a deal with. That is the kind of talent that I can use when I leave this town.”

 _A psychopath._ Mackenzie thought. _A monster of nightmares._

“Katerina,” he called quietly, “come here.”

Katherine hesitated, of course, though she didn’t have much choice. She gave him her hand as he requested it. Then, he bit her. Mackenzie jumped as she heard Katherine’s cries of pain.

“No,” the vampire breathed out, “no, no, no,” she kept repeating as she stared at the werewolf bite on her wrist. But Klaus quickly forcefully fed her his blood.

“You want your cure?” Klaus asked Stefan. “There it is.”

“Your blood is the cure.”

“Gotta love mother nature” Klaus grinned. “Now. Let’s talk.”

For the next hour, Klaus forced Stefan to drink from the blood bags in the fridge. “You do everything I say and I save your brother, that’s the deal,” he had said. So, Stefan did everything he said while Katherine and Mackenzie watched, powerless. “Leave town with me and save your brother’s life,” was Klaus’ deal. When Stefan accepted, he gave a vial of blood to Katherine and compelled her to deliver it to Damon.

“No,” Stefan said.

“You want me to leave?” Katherine asked just to be sure.

“Yes. And take the witch with you, will you? I’m tired of listening to her cry.”

“No,” Stefan repeated but it was too late. They were gone. “She’ll never take it to him!”

Klaus shrugged. “Well I’m not the one who gave her vervain, am I?”

 

***

 

“Is that all?” Katherine asked as she closed the trunk of Elijah’s black SUV.

Mackenzie had found the keys in the kitchen. She had wrapped up her things and Elijah’s and had put everything in the car with Katherine’s help. She couldn’t leave anything behind as the owners would be back soon now that Elijah was dead.

“Yes. Thank you for your help.”

“No problem,” the vampire sighed. “You ready to go?”

Mackenzie couldn’t help but feel like she was making the worst decision she ever made. It felt like a suicide mission. And who was she kidding? It was. But what else was she supposed to do? She had nowhere to go. No one to go to. So when Katherine asked her if she wanted to go after Klaus with her, after Elijah, she couldn’t say no because she didn’t really have any other option.

“Yes. Let’s go.”


	14. Into The Wolf's Mouth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!
> 
> New chapters will be posted every Wednesday!
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

Looking in the mirror, Mackenzie wasn’t sure what she was seeing anymore. Certainly not the girl she was when she met Elijah, and not the girl she was when she left Mystic Falls with Katherine almost two months ago. She couldn’t decide if her life were better now that her best friends were vampires or if she missed the days when she was afraid to breathe near her abusive stepfather. Maybe it was Katherine’s confident attitude that was rubbing off on her, but she felt empowered, stronger and more determined than ever. Of course, practicing her magic helped too. It was easy to feel powerful when a simple look could set anything on fire.

For the two months they had been together, Mackenzie and Katherine had only fought once. Mackenzie had been focusing on the element of fire in her training in the previous two weeks when she came across a passage in one of her ancestors’ journals warning about the side effects. Elementals of fire were known for their anger issues of supernatural proportion. Mackenzie had understood then where her sudden hot-tempered attitude had come from. And why Katherine had insisted she practiced fire first.

“Did you know?!” she had asked, loudly enough to wake up the entire hotel.

“Maybe,” Katherine only shrugged, without an ounce of regret.

The argument had lasted two days. Mackenzie went on about how she didn’t like being manipulated but moved on when she realized that “We’re going after Klaus. I need you to be on your game if he catches us. A little confidence could save your life. And mine.” would be the only thing close to an apology she’d ever get from the vampire. Afterwards, Mackenzie had decided to focus on other elements. She decided she didn’t like the person she was when she had fire in her veins. She didn’t like the thoughts she had when she was angry.

Mackenzie had learnt a lot about Katherine in the past few weeks, and she understood very quickly how the vampire had managed to survive the last five centuries. She compelled her way to everything. Food, clothes, cars, hotel rooms… She always found clever ways to get what she wanted. And what she wanted the most in this world was her freedom. And Klaus dead.

On the morning of June 22, Katherine still had blood on her lips when she came back into their rooms with a smile on her face. She saw Mackenzie hadn’t moved from where she was when she left an hour before. The vampire grinned an evil smile as she took a step.

“Happy birthday!” Katherine said loud enough to wake up all the other rooms in the four stories hotel as she opened the curtains, letting the sunlight invade the room. Mackenzie groaned unhappily, waved her hand and the curtains were closed again.

“What time is it?” Mackenzie asked, bringing the bed cover over her head.

“Almost 9. You wouldn’t be so tired if you hadn’t spent all night practicing your magic,” Katherine said as she sat on the elemental’s bed, turning the pages of one of Mackenzie’s ancient journals.

“I need to practice. I want to be able to defend myself.”

“Well, at least you can defend yourself against sunlight,” she pushed herself off the bed and opened the curtains again. “But not from me. Get up. I got a present for you,” she sang the last part happily.

“You’re in a good mood today,” Mackenzie sighed as she sat up on the bed.

“It’s your birthday! Why aren’t _you_ in a good mood?”

“Um, let’s see. I dropped from high school a month before graduation, my only friend is lying dead in a coffin somewhere, I’m one of the last elementals on this planet, I’m going after the oldest psycho vampire in the world with no plan whatsoever… what should I be happy about, exactly?”

“Your only friend?” Katherine gasped, bringing a hand to her heart. “I’m offended,” she joked.

“Fine. One of my only _two_ friends is lying dead in a coffin somewhere.”

Katherine grinned. “Get up. We’re leaving today.”

“Where are we going?”

“That is a surprise,” Katherine teased.

“Is that my birthday gift?”

“It’s part of your birthday gift,” she winked before locking herself in the bathroom.

Mackenzie sighed as she pushed the bed cover away from her. She picked up the journals and grimoires from the floor and put them back inside her bag. She had left the chest in a storage room near Mystic Falls before leaving town. She couldn’t take the risk of losing it while traveling the country so she only took grimoires and journals she could read and use to practice her magic and make herself stronger.

“Are you ready for the rest of your gift?” Katherine asked as she exited the bathroom.

“Did you find Klaus?” Mackenzie asked, because that’s all she really wanted.

“Yes. Well… kind of. I know what he’s been up to.”

“What?”

“Ever since the curse was lifted Klaus has been looking for werewolves to turn. Unfortunately for him, and for the werewolves, that didn’t go so well.”

“What do you mean?”

“They all died. He can’t make hybrids. He’s pissed and he wants answers.”

“That’s… my gift?”

“No. _That’_ s my gift,” Katherine said with a smirk as she handed her a postcard.

“A postcard from… Chicago?”

“That’s where Klaus is going. And that’s our next stop.”

“What’s in Chicago?”

“A witch. He’ll ask her why his hybrids are dying.”

“What does she know about it?”

“She’s a witch. Witches don’t know anything, they usually ask the spirits for answers.”

“So… we go to Chicago and… we get Elijah back while Klaus is busy getting his answers.”

“Wow there cowgirl, slow down! It’s not gonna be _that_ easy. You think Klaus leaves his siblings unprotected?”

“I think between you and me, whoever’s guarding the coffins doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Well look at you. I’d be proud if being overly confident wasn’t the best way to get yourself killed,” Katherine said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“We’ve been waiting for a chance to get close for weeks! This is the best opportunity we got so far!”

“Look, you wanna get yourself killed? I won’t stop you. But you won’t be useful to Elijah if you’re dead.”

Mackenzie clenched her jaw, took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Katherine was right. It was a terrible plan.

“Sorry… It’s the fire in me,” she said, and she meant it literally, “I need to slow down.”

“Always remember this, Mack: ask questions first, shoot later. Unless your life depends on it then shoot first and ask questions later.”

Mackenzie frowned. “Thanks for the advice, that clarifies so much.”

“You’re welcome.”

 

***

 

It took them the entire day to get to Chicago, following the Original hybrid by a couple of hours. Mackenzie never asked Katherine how she knew what she knew but she figured that’s where she went early in the morning. She always came back with new information, and blood on her shirt. After 500 years of running, Mackenzie figured Katherine had made a few friends along the way.

The next morning was different though, because Katherine never came back. Mackenzie was getting worried as the clock struck noon and still no sign of the immortal doppelganger. Around 2, Mackenzie was getting tired of waiting, and she was worried. She decided to do a locator spell but as she was looking for a personal object in Katherine’s belongings, she found an opened notepad with an address written in red on it. A Chicago address for a place just around the corner.

It took less than half an hour for the elemental to get there. She was pretty sure that’s where she’d found Katherine as the lock of the apartment’s front door was broken. When she stepped inside, she came face to face with whom she thought was her friend.

“Kat! What are you doing? I was worried sick!”

But Katherine didn’t respond. Instead, she frowned and the surprised and confused look on her face told Mackenzie that the girl standing in the kitchen in front of her wasn’t Katherine Pierce.

“Mackenzie?” Elena breathed out. “What are you doing here? We thought you were dead!”

“Why would you think that?” Mackenzie frowned. “And what are _you_ doing here?”

“Did you say Kat? As in Katherine?”

“Yeah, I’m looking for her. What is this place?”

“What are you doing with Katherine?”

“Trying to help Elijah,” Mackenzie said as if it were obvious. “Why are you here?”

“Damon brought me here. It used to be Stefan’s apartment.”

Well that would explain why Katherine had the address. Mackenzie was about to reply when a shiver ran down her spine. _Uh-oh_.

“Klaus is here,” she breathed out.

“What?”

“You need to leave, now!”

“I can’t, he’ll see me!”

“Then hide!”

“What about you?”

“I… I’ll be fine just go!”

Elena hesitated but eventually stepped out of the kitchen and entered what Mackenzie guessed was the bedroom.

 _Think, think, think._ Mackenzie could have locked the door, even set the building on fire but that wouldn’t have helped anybody. Her best shot was to distract Klaus to save Elena. With a little luck, he wouldn’t kill her. With a little luck.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” she heard Klaus say with delight.

Mackenzie slowly turned around and faced a smiling Klaus and a frowning Stefan.

“Mackenzie, is it?” Klaus asked. She swallowed then nodded. “Now, that is a complete surprise,” he chuckled. “What are you doing here? Or, how did you find us, shall I ask.”

Mackenzie’s heart started beating harder. Her breath was uneven as she tried to find an answer. “Damon,” she lied.

“Ah. Your brother’s still looking for you, is he?” he told Stefan. “Looks like he hasn’t learnt his lesson yet.”

“You didn’t come here for me,” Stefan said, “you came for Elijah.”

Klaus raised an eyebrow. “That’s right,” he said as if he had just remembered who she was. “Fancy my brother, do you?”

“What?” Mackenzie shook her head. “I…”

“Relax,” the hybrid laughed, “I appreciate your loyalty to my brother, and your bravery. But you know what people say, there’s a fine line between bravery…” Klaus whispered as he took a step towards the elemental, “and stupidity.”

He gave her one of his terrifying smiles before he slid his nose down her neck. Mackenzie froze as she heard Klaus breathe in her scent. Katherine had just given her blood the day before so he shouldn’t be able to tell what she really was. But still, he was terrifying. Then, after what seemed like hours, Klaus sighed.

“Well, I can’t kill you now,” he said with what might have been disappointment in his voice, “Elijah’s not gonna be happy I daggered him, I can’t make him angrier by killing his girlfriend, can I?”

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Mackenzie had the courage to say with a weak voice. She then realized how stupid it was to tell Klaus he had no real reason to keep her alive.

Klaus laughed. “So. Where is Damon?”

“I don’t know. He left me here.”

“That wasn’t very smart of him, was it?” Klaus mocked. “Now, now. I can’t have you mess around my business. And if I can’t kill you then… I guess I’m gonna have to keep a close eye on you,” he grinned. “Besides, Rebekah could use a friend. She’s only been dead for 90 years, after all. I’m sure she’ll appreciate your company.”

“You want to give her to your sister?” Stefan raised an eyebrow.

“Rebekah will be angry when she wakes up. Anything to calm her down is fine by me. Go on now. Gloria will be waiting for us.”

“Who’s Gloria?” she asked.

“A witch and a friend of mine who’s helping me figure out why I can’t make hybrids.”

That wasn’t good. If Klaus turned to that witch for help it meant that she was powerful. Very powerful. And witches weren’t Mackenzie’s friends. _Stay away from those bitches,_ Katherine had told her. This could go wrong in so many ways. The witch could tell Klaus she was an elemental, in which case he’d kill her, or the witch could just kill her herself. Either way, Mackenzie doubted she’d ever see Katherine or Elijah again.

 

***

 

Gloria, if she knew of Mackenzie’s true nature, hadn’t said a thing. Klaus and Stefan had been drinking for over an hour at the witch’s bar, waiting for Rebekah, whom Mackenzie had learnt was Klaus’ sister who had been lying in a casket since the 1920’s.

The vampires seemed to have forgotten of the girl’s presence as they kept talking about that time, 90 year ago, when they knew each other. Mackenzie didn’t know what to think as she heard of Stefan and Klaus being best friends and Stefan being in love with Klaus’ sister.

“You compelled me to forget,” Stefan said as he realized why he couldn’t remember any of it.

“It was time for Rebekah and I to move on,” Klaus explained. “Better to have a clean slate.”

“But why? You shouldn’t have to cover your tracks. Unless you’re running from someone.”

“Story time’s over.”

Stefan didn’t insist. “I need another drink,” he said. “A real one.” Klaus dismissed him before he poured himself another drink.

Mackenzie was too afraid to open her mouth. She was happy enough that Klaus acted like she wasn’t sitting right next to him. Unfortunately, the evening was about to take a dark turn and Mackenzie knew it wasn’t going to end well when Damon came to sit at the bar, a stool away from the Original hybrid.

“I see they’ve opened the doors to the riffraff now,” Klaus said, not bothering to look at him.

“Oh, honey, I’ve been called worse,” Damon replied which made Klaus chuckle.

“You don’t give up, do you?”

“Give me my brother back and you’ll never have to see me again.”

“I am torn. You see, I promised Stefan I wouldn’t let you die but how many freebies did I really sign up for? And clearly you want to die otherwise you wouldn’t be here, so…”

“What can I say? I’m a thrill seeker,” Damon grinned.

Klaus smiled back for a couple of seconds before jumping from his seat. The sudden movement startled Mackenzie. The Original seized the vampire by the throat and started poking around his chest with a toothpick from the bar.

“I’m a little boozy, so you’ll forgive me if I miss your heart the first few tries.”

Mackenzie was frozen on her seat, torn between asking the vampire to stop or stopping him herself. It wouldn’t require much magic, she could set the toothpick on fire, which was easy enough, but then she’d have to neutralize Klaus which would certainly piss him off but also reveal her true powers, which she had no intention of doing.

“Klaus! Klaus stop!” she begged. She didn’t really know why, she wasn’t particularly fond of Damon, in fact she really didn’t like him, but that didn’t mean she wanted him dead.

Klaus’ only answer was a laugh. “Stop? Why would I do that?”

“You want a partner in crime?” Damon managed to say despite Klaus’ hand on his throat. “Forget Stefan. I’m so much more fun.”

Klaus tilted his head as if he were thinking about it but then threw Damon over a table.

“You won’t be any fun after you’re dead,” he said as he broke a chair and made a stake out of it.

“Klaus!” Mackenzie shouted as he was about to stab the eldest Salvatore in the heart.

But as soon as she said his name, the stake caught on fire, and Mackenzie was sure she hadn’t done it. Klaus let go of it with a growl.

“Really?”

“Not in my bar.” Gloria said. “You take it outside.”

Klaus sighed. “You don’t have to negotiate your brother’s freedom,” he told Damon. “When I’m done with him, he won’t wanna go back.” He stepped away from him, gesturing him to leave.

Damon got up with a groan. He sighed before he took the direction of the exit.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Klaus asked.

Damon turned away and gave him a confused look. Klaus pointed a finger at Mackenzie. Damon frowned.

“What are _you_ doing here?”

Klaus laughed, raising his eyebrows at her. “Now that’s interesting.” Mackenzie looked away. “You can go now,” he told Damon. “And don’t come back.”

 

***

 

When Stefan came back a couple of minutes after Damon had gone, Klaus still hadn’t asked Mackenzie to tell him the truth, which she found weird, but ultimately wouldn’t complain about. She followed them, not that she had any choice, to a big storage room where an empty open coffin was waiting for them. She looked around, wondering where Elijah’s coffin was.

Klaus turned around to look at the room and saw one of his man lying dead on the floor.

“Rebekah,” he called. “It’s your big brother. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

Almost instantly, a blonde young woman dressed in a white dress from the 20’s, launched herself at Klaus and stabbed him in the heart with a silver dagger.

“Go to hell, Nik,” she snarled.

Klaus gasped out of pain but was left unharmed by the attack. He removed the dagger from his chest and let it fall to the floor.

“Don’t pout, you knew it wouldn’t kill me.”

“No, but I was hoping it would hurt more,” she said as she walked away from him.

Mackenzie stepped back, only for her back to meet Stefan’s chest. She looked up at him, and she could see by the look on his face that he wasn’t going to help her, no matter what happened. She was on her own. She thanked Katherine for all the training sessions from the past two months. She had a feeling she was going to have to put them to use very soon.

“I understand that you’re upset with me, Rebekah,” Klaus followed her and she stopped when he placed a hand on her shoulder, “so I’m gonna let that go, just this once.”

She gave him an unsatisfied look.

“I brought you a little peace offering,” he said before he pointed at Stefan.

Mackenzie could see the surprise on the blonde’s face. Her anger faded away as a smile appeared on her face.

“Stefan?”

Mackenzie looked up at the vampire and could see he didn’t remember the blonde at all. She moved away as Klaus stepped towards them. She watched as the hybrid put a hand on the vampire’s shoulder and compelled him to remember before stepping away.

Stefan was confused for a short moment but then his eyes fell on Klaus’ sister and a genuine happy smile formed on his face.

“Rebekah,” he breathed out. He started walking slowly towards her but stopped when Klaus softly called his name. He turned around and frowned as he now recognized him too. “I remember you. We were friends.”

“We _are_ friends,” Klaus corrected him as he placed a hand on his shoulder. “And now, the reason you’re here,” he told his sister, “Gloria tells me you know how to contact the Original witch.”

“’The Original witch’?” Rebekah repeated like it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

“What do you have that Gloria needs?”

Rebekah brought a hand to her neck but was surprised to find nothing there.

“Where’s my necklace?” she asked. “What did you do with it? I never take it off!”

“Tell me that’s not what she needs.”

“We need to find it!”

“Tell me that’s not what she needs!” Klaus growled, his anger only growing.

“We need to find it now! I want it back!” Rebekah shouted.

“Tell me that’s not what she needs, Rebekah!” Klaus yelled so loud it made Mackenzie jump.

Rebekah turned to her coffin and looked inside then destroyed it when she found nothing there.

Klaus was so furious Mackenzie started to fear for her own life. After all, Klaus was known to kill people when things didn’t go his way. She looked up at Stefan who had a weird look on his face. Mackenzie thought she saw guilt, or maybe worry.

“It’s fine,” Klaus said as he took a deep breath, “it’s fine. Gloria will find it.”

“She better!” Rebekah threatened. “Who’s that?” she asked, pointing at Mackenzie. The elemental swallowed, it didn’t seem like a good moment for her to become the center of their attention.

“That, dear sister, is Mackenzie.”

“What is she doing here?”

“She came for Elijah, isn’t that right, Mackenzie?”

Mackenzie’s eyes moved from Klaus to his sister then to Klaus again. She was too scared to speak, certain that the wrong word would be a death sentence. She nodded.

“Where _is_ Elijah?” Rebekah asked.

“In his coffin.”

Rebekah rolled her eyes, disappointed, but not surprised. “Then why is she here?”

“She’s stubborn this one,” Klaus said as he walked towards Mackenzie and put his arm around her shoulders. Mackenzie felt like her heart had stopped beating. “She won’t let Elijah go.”

“But you’re not gonna wake him up. So why is she here?” she asked again, getting annoyed.

“I found her snooping around earlier today, I thought she could keep you company. After all, if she can be friends with Elijah, she can be friends with you.”

“You kidnapped me a friend?” Rebekah asked with a frown.

“You’re welcome. Just keep an eye on her, will you? She’s a powerful witch and I’m not ready to face Elijah just yet.”

Rebekah let out an amused laugh. “She doesn’t look like a powerful witch,” she mocked.

“Well she’s a little inexperienced but she was smart enough to find me here so I’m not taking any chances.”

Rebekah didn’t answer. She looked Mackenzie up and down which made the elemental feel not only like she was taking her final breaths, but also a bit self-conscious. It took everything she had in her not to step back and to keep her chin up, when Rebekah made her way to her. _A little self-confidence could save your life._

“So, you’re Elijah’s girlfriend?” she asked, doubt clear on her face.

“No,” Mackenzie said in a whisper, unable to speak any louder, “we’re just friends.”

“You don’t follow Niklaus around for just a ‘friend’. Unless you have a death wish.”

Klaus laughed. Mackenzie could see Rebekah was waiting for an answer. What could she tell her? She had no good reason to be here except for the truth. As pathetic as it could be.

“I don’t have anyone but Elijah. Without him…,” she paused, and Rebekah raised an eyebrow, encouraging her to continue, “I’m all alone. He saved my life once. I wanted to do the same for him.”

Rebekah didn’t move her eyes from the girl’s face, studying her, thinking about what she had just heard. After a moment of silence, Rebekah nodded and stepped back.

“I like you. We shall be friends.”

 

***

 

Damon was in his living room, pouring himself a glass of alcohol with a hand, his phone in the other.

“Okay, you were right. He was there.”

“I’m always right,” Katherine said through the phone. “Let me guess. It ended in tears and heartbreak.”

“Where are you?”

“Why? Do you wanna come rub sunscreen on my back?”

“I’m thinking Europe. Italy maybe. Or Spain. You were always a sucker for those lazy afternoons.”

He expected her to keep lying but instead was met with silence.

“You’re still here?”

“Was she there?” she asked with a serious tone he wasn’t used to hearing from her.

“Who?” he frowned, confused.

“Mackenzie. Did you see her?”

Damon laughed as he realized. “Mackenzie, of course! I was wondering what she was doing with him. But she wasn’t there with him. She was there with _you_.”

“So you saw her?”

“Yeah, I saw her.”

“Was she okay?”

“Well she didn’t look happy to be there but her heart was still beating when I left, if that’s what you’re asking. Why do you even care?”

“I don’t.”

“Liar.”

“Goodbye, Damon.”

The vampire didn’t have time to say goodbye as she hung up on him. He threw his phone on the couch and sat down on an armchair near the fireplace.

What was he going to do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Chapter 15 is already available for early access on my Patreon page!  
> Chapter 16 to 21 are available for instant access!  
> If you'd like to support me here's my page: patreon.com/alonelydreamer any support is highly appreciated!!
> 
> If you can't, it's okay! Chapter 15 will be posted on AO3 next Wednesday!
> 
> Have a good week!


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